Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX | STX Price Prediction) is one of the sole-source picks-and-shovels suppliers to hyperscalers that has already contracted nearline capacity almost fully through calendar year 2027. Here are 3 reasons why Seagate could be worth a closer look ahead of the company’s Q4 earnings on July 28.
3 Numbers That Make Seagate Impossible to Ignore Growth is accelerating, not decaying. Fiscal Q3 revenue landed at $3.11 billion, up 44.07% year over year, beating consensus by 5.22%. Non-GAAP EPS of $4.10 cleared the $3.506 estimate by 16.94%. Management then guided Q4 to $3.45 billion in revenue and $5.00 in EPS at the midpoint, and CEO Dave Mosley raised the multi-year revenue growth target from low- to mid-teens to a minimum of 20% over the next few years.
The cash flow is investment-grade. Free cash flow hit $953 million, up 341.2% year over year, on a 31% free cash flow margin. Seagate retired $641 million of debt in the quarter, pushed net leverage to 0.7x, earned an investment-grade upgrade from Fitch, and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.74 per share.
The catalyst is visible on paper. The top three cloud service providers have nearly doubled their remaining performance obligations to $1.1 trillion. Seagate’s Mozaic 4 HAMR drives ship up to 44 terabytes per drive, over 30% more capacity than first-generation Mozaic. Polymarket traders assign a 93.5% probability that Q4 hard drive exabyte shipments will exceed 190.
The Bottom Line: Seagate’s AI Demand Is Locked In Through 2027 The biggest risk today is that data-center storage demand eventually slows. However, Seagate has already booked nearly all of its available nearline capacity through 2027, while profitability has improved for 12 consecutive quarters.
Wall Street remains bullish, with 21 buy ratings, three holds, and only one sell. Analysts’ average price target of $1,008.61 also implies 18.4% upside from the current price of $851.69. Investors can collect Seagate’s rising dividend while its contracted hyperscaler demand supports continued revenue and earnings growth.
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Key Takeaways Seagate expects Q4 revenue of about $3.45B and non-GAAP EPS of about $5.00 per share.STX is benefiting from AI, cloud and data center demand, with HAMR and Mozaic driving growth.Seagate sees strong momentum from pricing, margins and free cash flow despite competitive and cyclical risks. Seagate Technology Holdings plc (STX - Free Report) is scheduled to report fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings on July 28, after the closing bell.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $5.10 per share, indicating a 96.9% year-over-year increase. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is $3.5 billion, suggesting a 43% uptick from the year-ago actual.
For the fiscal fourth quarter, STX expects revenues of $3.45 billion (+/- $100 million). At the midpoint, this indicates a 41% year-over-year improvement. Non-GAAP earnings are expected to be $5.00 per share (+/- 20 cents).
STX’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 10.7%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
What the Zacks Model Predicts for STXOur proven model predicts an earnings beat for Seagate this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. This is exactly the case here. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Seagate has an Earnings ESP of +1.75% and a Zacks Rank #1 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Key Factors Shaping STX Upcoming Q4 EarningsSeagate’s fiscal fourth-quarter performance is likely to have been cushioned by the explosive growth of AI, cloud computing and enterprise data centers, all of which continue to fuel demand for HDDs. Hyperscalers and cloud providers increasingly rely on Seagate's advanced HDD solutions because they offer the lowest cost per terabyte for massive-scale storage. STX is capitalizing on this opportunity through its HAMR roadmap and areal density strategy, improving cost and power efficiency while targeting mid-20% exabyte growth.
Its 44TB Mozaic 4+ platform is expected to lead HAMR shipments by the end of 2026, while the 50TB Mozaic 5 remains on track for late-2027 qualification. As production scales, Seagate plans to expand HAMR beyond hyperscale customers into enterprise and edge markets, enhancing long-term efficiency and growth. Nearline drives remain Seagate's most profitable business. Enterprise customers continue prioritizing larger-capacity drives that reduce operating costs while maximizing storage density. Demand has consistently exceeded supply over recent quarters, allowing Seagate to maintain healthy pricing.
An encouraging trend over recent quarters has been Seagate's improving profitability. Non-GAAP gross margin hit a record 47%, increasing about 1,080 basis points year over year, driven by favorable product mix and ongoing pricing initiatives in the fiscal third quarter. If revenue again surpasses expectations in the fiscal fourth quarter, margins could surprise positively, leading to stronger earnings growth than revenue alone might suggest. For the fiscal fourth quarter, non-GAAP operating expenses are expected to be around $295 million. At the midpoint of revenue guidance, non-GAAP operating margin is projected to rise into the low 40% range.
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STX's optimistic fiscal fourth-quarter outlook highlights increasing business momentum and future opportunities. Management emphasized that the company is entering a “new era of structural growth” fueled by strong AI-driven demand, increased adoption of Mozaic products and disciplined execution focused on expanding margins, cash flow and long-term value. It generates robust free cash flow, which it uses to fund dividends, share buybacks, technology investments and strengthen its balance sheet. Its above-average dividend yield, combined with earnings growth, makes the stock attractive for both income and long-term capital appreciation.
Amid geopolitical tensions, including the Middle East conflict, Seagate does not expect any material impact on its business, supported by proactive supply chain and logistics management. Per management, AI-driven demand for large-scale storage remains strong, with rising exabyte demand, continued Mozaic product qualification and disciplined pricing supporting its growth outlook. Despite the favorable outlook, Seagate is not without risks. It faces risks from a potential slowdown in enterprise IT spending, which could delay storage upgrades despite healthy hyperscale demand. The HDD industry also remains cyclical, with periods of oversupply capable of pressuring pricing and margins.
Additionally, intense competition from Western Digital Corporation (WDC - Free Report) and other storage technology providers could have challenged Seagate's quarterly performance.
STX Stock vs. IndustrySTX stock has gained traction, climbing 505.3% in the past year, exceeding the Zacks Computer-Integrated Systems industry’s, the Zacks Computer & Technology sector and the S&P 500’s growth of 216.4%, 25.6% and 18%, respectively.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The company has also surpassed its industry peers like Agilysys, Inc. (AGYS - Free Report) , which has crashed 18.7% in the past year. Seagate’s shares have, however, trailed past storage rivals Micron Technology (MU - Free Report) and WDC, which soared 790% and 711.2%, respectively.
STX Trades at a PremiumIn terms of forward price/earnings, STX’s shares are trading at 30.56X, higher than the industry’s 13.03X. If earnings continue expanding over the next several quarters, today's valuation could still remain justified.
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WDC, MU and AGYS are trading at multiples of 28.42X, 6.64X and 47.92X, respectively.
Is STX Stock a Portfolio Must-Have?Seagate appears well-positioned to deliver another strong quarterly performance. Robust AI-driven storage demand, expanding HAMR adoption, improving margins and disciplined capital allocation all support the possibility of a fiscal fourth-quarter earnings beat. While cyclical risks and enterprise spending fluctuations should not be overlooked, the company's improving competitive position and favorable industry trends suggest that Seagate can continue creating shareholder value over the coming years.
If it delivers another earnings beat while maintaining a strong outlook for fiscal 2027, the stock may remain an attractive long-term investment. For investors seeking diversified exposure to the AI infrastructure trend along with reliable cash flow and dividend income, Seagate deserves serious consideration as a core technology stock.
Aspen Grove Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX – Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 665 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $261,000.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Seagate Technology by 884.2% during the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 187 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its holdings in Seagate Technology by 124.4% in the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 92 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Avion Wealth increased its stake in Seagate Technology by 343.5% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 102 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new position in Seagate Technology in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Seagate Technology during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Seagate Technology Stock Up 0.6% STX opened at $913.36 on Friday. Seagate Technology Holdings PLC has a 52 week low of $138.30 and a 52 week high of $1,145.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $892.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $608.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.16. The company has a market cap of $204.80 billion, a PE ratio of 86.66 and a beta of 2.04.
Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The data storage provider reported $4.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.51 by $0.59. The company had revenue of $3.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.96 billion. Seagate Technology had a return on equity of 1,005.65% and a net margin of 21.60%.The company’s revenue was up 44.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.90 EPS. Seagate Technology has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 4.800-5.200 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 14.14 EPS for the current year.
Seagate Technology Announces Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 24th were given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 24th. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.08%.
Insider Activity In other Seagate Technology news, EVP John Christopher Morris sold 5,626 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $738.37, for a total value of $4,154,069.62. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 11,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,826,474.98. The trade was a 32.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Gianluca Romano sold 22,488 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $774.22, for a total transaction of $17,410,659.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 42,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,173,004.34. The trade was a 34.42% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 151,069 shares of company stock valued at $126,191,753. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several analysts have recently weighed in on STX shares. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,000.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Seagate Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Loop Capital raised their price objective on Seagate Technology from $950.00 to $1,140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Seagate Technology from $385.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Twenty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Seagate Technology has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $898.52.
Read Our Latest Report on Seagate Technology
Seagate Technology Company Profile (Free Report)
Seagate Technology (NASDAQ: STX) is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage products and systems. The firm’s product portfolio includes traditional hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), hybrid storage devices and integrated storage systems aimed at enterprise, cloud, OEM and consumer markets. Seagate also provides services that support its hardware offerings, including data recovery and storage management solutions.
Seagate’s products are used in a wide array of applications, from large-scale data centers and cloud infrastructure to desktop and portable consumer devices.
Featured Articles Five stocks we like better than Seagate Technology Premium Retail’s Stress Test Is Separating Winners From Losers D-Wave Quantum or a Quantum ETF: Which Is the Better Bet? GE Vernova Just Sent a Mixed AI Signal to Investors Alphabet Crushed Earnings, But One Number Spooked the Market Want to see what other hedge funds are holding STX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX – Free Report).
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Atika Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX – Free Report) by 3.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,500 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,593 shares during the quarter. Seagate Technology accounts for about 2.6% of Atika Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Atika Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Seagate Technology were worth $20,959,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in STX. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Seagate Technology by 23.1% during the 1st quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 2.1% during the first quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 820 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $321,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 0.5% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,542 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,388,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. WealthCollab LLC lifted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 27.4% during the first quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 93 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $385,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insider Buying and Selling at Seagate Technology In other Seagate Technology news, EVP John Christopher Morris sold 1,364 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $880.19, for a total transaction of $1,200,579.16. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 12,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,639,736.72. The trade was a 10.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 989 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $880.19, for a total transaction of $870,507.91. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 4,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,776,015.10. This represents a 18.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 151,069 shares of company stock worth $126,191,753. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.
Seagate Technology Stock Performance STX opened at $913.36 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $204.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.66 and a beta of 2.04. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $892.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $608.50. Seagate Technology Holdings PLC has a 1 year low of $138.30 and a 1 year high of $1,145.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.16, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.85.
Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The data storage provider reported $4.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.51 by $0.59. The company had revenue of $3.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.96 billion. Seagate Technology had a return on equity of 1,005.65% and a net margin of 21.60%.Seagate Technology’s revenue for the quarter was up 44.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.90 earnings per share. Seagate Technology has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 4.800-5.200 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 14.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Seagate Technology Announces Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 24th were issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 24th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.08%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of brokerages recently commented on STX. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Seagate Technology from $500.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Fox Advisors downgraded Seagate Technology from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Argus raised their price target on Seagate Technology from $450.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Seagate Technology from $775.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $767.00 to $1,035.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Twenty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $898.52.
Read Our Latest Research Report on STX
Seagate Technology Company Profile (Free Report)
Seagate Technology (NASDAQ: STX) is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage products and systems. The firm’s product portfolio includes traditional hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), hybrid storage devices and integrated storage systems aimed at enterprise, cloud, OEM and consumer markets. Seagate also provides services that support its hardware offerings, including data recovery and storage management solutions.
Seagate’s products are used in a wide array of applications, from large-scale data centers and cloud infrastructure to desktop and portable consumer devices.
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Aureus Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX – Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 553 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.
A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Seagate Technology by 1,510.1% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,008,516 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $553,125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,883,769 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Seagate Technology in the fourth quarter valued at $498,363,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its stake in Seagate Technology by 1,468.1% during the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 1,417,600 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $204,602,000 after buying an additional 1,327,197 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 102.0% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,599,962 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $440,614,000 after acquiring an additional 807,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its stake in Seagate Technology by 298.7% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 997,223 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $274,625,000 after purchasing an additional 747,102 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.
Seagate Technology Stock Performance Shares of STX opened at $913.36 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $892.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $608.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.16. The company has a market capitalization of $204.80 billion, a PE ratio of 86.66 and a beta of 2.04. Seagate Technology Holdings PLC has a 52-week low of $138.30 and a 52-week high of $1,145.00.
Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The data storage provider reported $4.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.51 by $0.59. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 21.60% and a return on equity of 1,005.65%. The firm had revenue of $3.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 44.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Seagate Technology has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 4.800-5.200 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 14.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Seagate Technology Dividend Announcement The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 24th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 24th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Seagate Technology’s payout ratio is 28.08%.
Insider Transactions at Seagate Technology In related news, CFO Gianluca Romano sold 903 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $880.19, for a total value of $794,811.57. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 42,860 shares in the company, valued at $37,724,943.40. This represents a 2.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John Christopher Morris sold 1,364 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $880.19, for a total value of $1,200,579.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 12,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,639,736.72. The trade was a 10.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 151,069 shares of company stock worth $126,191,753. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In STX has been the subject of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on Seagate Technology from $530.00 to $860.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Seagate Technology from $767.00 to $1,035.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Mizuho increased their price target on Seagate Technology from $875.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $1,000.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Twenty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Seagate Technology presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $898.52.
Check Out Our Latest Report on STX
About Seagate Technology (Free Report)
Seagate Technology (NASDAQ: STX) is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage products and systems. The firm’s product portfolio includes traditional hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), hybrid storage devices and integrated storage systems aimed at enterprise, cloud, OEM and consumer markets. Seagate also provides services that support its hardware offerings, including data recovery and storage management solutions.
Seagate’s products are used in a wide array of applications, from large-scale data centers and cloud infrastructure to desktop and portable consumer devices.
Featured Articles Five stocks we like better than Seagate Technology Premium Retail’s Stress Test Is Separating Winners From Losers D-Wave Quantum or a Quantum ETF: Which Is the Better Bet? GE Vernova Just Sent a Mixed AI Signal to Investors Alphabet Crushed Earnings, But One Number Spooked the Market
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Quarterly financial reports play a vital role on Wall Street, as they help investors see how a company has performed and what might be coming down the road in the near-term. And out of all of the metrics and results to consider, earnings is one of the most important.
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In fact, when we combined a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better and a positive Earnings ESP, stocks produced a positive surprise 70% of the time. Perhaps most importantly, using these parameters has helped produce 28.3% annual returns on average, according to our 10 year backtest.
Stocks with a #3 (Hold) ranking, which is most stocks covered at 60%, are expected to perform in-line with the broader market. But stocks that fall into the #2 (Buy) and #1 (Strong Buy) ranking, or the top 15% and top 5% of stocks, respectively, should outperform the market. Strong Buy stocks should outperform more than any other rank.
Should You Consider Arista Networks?The last thing we will do today, now that we have a grasp on the ESP and how powerful of a tool it can be, is to quickly look at a qualifying stock. Arista Networks (ANET - Free Report) holds a #2 (Buy) at the moment and its Most Accurate Estimate comes in at $0.92 a share 13 days away from its upcoming earnings release on August 4, 2026.
Arista Networks' Earnings ESP sits at +3.08%, which, as explained above, is calculated by taking the percentage difference between the $0.92 Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.89. ANET is also part of a large group of stocks that boast a positive ESP. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.
ANET is one of just a large database of Computer and Technology stocks with positive ESPs. Another solid-looking stock is Seagate (STX - Free Report) .
Seagate, which is readying to report earnings on July 28, 2026, sits at a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) right now. Its Most Accurate Estimate is currently $5.19 a share, and STX is six days out from its next earnings report.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Seagate is $5.10, and when you take the percentage difference between that number and its Most Accurate Estimate, you get the Earnings ESP figure of +1.75%.
Because both stocks hold a positive Earnings ESP, ANET and STX could potentially post earnings beats in their next reports.
Find Stocks to Buy or Sell Before They're ReportedUse the Zacks Earnings ESP Filter to turn up stocks with the highest probability of positively, or negatively, surprising to buy or sell before they're reported for profitable earnings season trading. Check it out here >>
Andra AP fonden acquired a new position in shares of Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX – Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 32,687 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,805,000.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in STX. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,370,805 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,587,535,000 after buying an additional 94,527 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,317,516 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,464,391,000 after acquiring an additional 258,151 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,896,815 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,343,683,000 after acquiring an additional 234,436 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,193,063 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $879,338,000 after acquiring an additional 243,551 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 1,510.1% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,008,516 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $553,125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,883,769 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Seagate Technology Stock Performance Shares of STX opened at $891.83 on Wednesday. Seagate Technology Holdings PLC has a one year low of $138.30 and a one year high of $1,145.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $888.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $599.64. The stock has a market cap of $199.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.61 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.16, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.85.
Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The data storage provider reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.51 by $0.59. The company had revenue of $3.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.96 billion. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 21.60% and a return on equity of 1,005.65%. The company’s revenue was up 44.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.90 EPS. Seagate Technology has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 4.800-5.200 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Seagate Technology Holdings PLC will post 14.14 earnings per share for the current year.
Seagate Technology Dividend Announcement The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 24th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 24th. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.08%.
Insider Transactions at Seagate Technology In other news, EVP John Christopher Morris sold 1,364 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $880.19, for a total transaction of $1,200,579.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 12,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,639,736.72. This trade represents a 10.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Gianluca Romano sold 903 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $880.19, for a total transaction of $794,811.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 42,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,724,943.40. This represents a 2.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 151,069 shares of company stock valued at $126,191,753 in the last three months. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Key Seagate Technology News Here are the key news stories impacting Seagate Technology this week:
Positive Sentiment: Analysts say Seagate has the right mix of factors for a likely earnings beat in its next report, with expectations for earnings growth ahead of results. Seagate (STX) Earnings Expected to Grow: Should You Buy? Positive Sentiment: Seagate was included in a Zacks analyst roundup alongside names tied to strong results, AI demand, and improving growth outlooks, reinforcing bullish sentiment. The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights Johnson & Johnson, Lam Research, Seagate, KVH Industries and Dawson Geophysical Positive Sentiment: Broker commentary and market coverage continue to cite Seagate as a beneficiary of AI infrastructure and memory-related demand trends, which has supported the stock’s recent strength. Banking giant names 7 stocks to buy after memory equities sell-off Neutral Sentiment: Jim Cramer suggested trimming Seagate after its strong comeback ahead of July 28 earnings, which may reflect caution about short-term gains despite the constructive longer-term backdrop. Jim Cramer suggests trimming Seagate position after strong comeback ahead of July 28 earnings Analyst Ratings Changes A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush upped their target price on Seagate Technology from $700.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Seagate Technology from $775.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Seagate Technology from $750.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on Seagate Technology from $1,000.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on Seagate Technology from $615.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Twenty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $898.52.
Get Our Latest Research Report on STX
Seagate Technology Company Profile (Free Report)
Seagate Technology (NASDAQ: STX) is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage products and systems. The firm’s product portfolio includes traditional hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), hybrid storage devices and integrated storage systems aimed at enterprise, cloud, OEM and consumer markets. Seagate also provides services that support its hardware offerings, including data recovery and storage management solutions.
Seagate’s products are used in a wide array of applications, from large-scale data centers and cloud infrastructure to desktop and portable consumer devices.
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Sandisk: Rapidly Accelerating RevenueSandisk (SNDK +12.15%) primarily designs, manufactures, and supplies a diverse range of computer data storage solutions, including embedded memory and removable cards, utilizing advanced flash technology.
It recently began production for its new 10th-generation flash memory technology alongside Kioxia in Japan, and it reported a 61% net income margin for the quarter ended April 3, 2026.
Seagate Technology: Steady Revenue ProgressSeagate Technology (STX +11.07%) operates as a global provider of mass capacity data storage technology, selling hard disk drives and solid-state drives primarily to original equipment manufacturers and distributors.
It recently reached a preliminary $175 million settlement to resolve a shareholder class-action lawsuit, and it posted a 24% net income margin for the quarter ended April 3, 2026.
Why Revenue Matters for Retail InvestorsRevenue serves as a critical baseline measure of a company's customer demand and overall sales volume over a given period. This metric helps investors measure a company’s overall size, market footprint, and long-term trajectory.
Quarterly Revenue for Sandisk and Seagate TechnologyQuarter (Period End)Sandisk RevenueSeagate Technology RevenueQ2 2024$1.8 billion (period ended June 2024)$1.9 billion (period ended June 2024)Q3 2024$1.9 billion (period ended Sept. 2024)$2.2 billion (period ended Sept. 2024)Q4 2024 (Dec. 2024)$1.9 billion$2.3 billionQ1 2025 (March 2025)$1.7 billion$2.2 billionQ2 2025 (June 2025)$1.9 billion$2.4 billionQ4 2025 (Oct. 2025)$2.3 billion$2.6 billionQ1 2026 (Jan. 2026)$3.0 billion$2.8 billionQ2 2026 (April 2026)$6.0 billion$3.1 billionData source: Company filings. Data as of July 16, 2026.
Foolish TakeExamining the revenue trends for Sandisk and Seagate Technology reveals key insights. The former trailed in sales until 2026, when Sandisk not only overtook Seagate, it handily blew past its data storage rival.
This sales surge was due to Sandisk’s focus on NAND flash memory while Seagate sells the traditional hard disk drive (HDD). NAND flash delivers extreme speed when it comes to processing data, far faster and more reliably than HDDs. The companies building artificial intelligence systems seek speed because of the massive troves of data AI must churn through to deliver its output.
As AI has rapidly expanded, necessitating the construction of new data centers, the demand for NAND flash has skyrocketed, as demonstrated by Sandisk’s sales of $6 billion in the most recent quarter. The company forecasted revenue of $7.8 billion to $8.3 billion in the next quarter. That’s more than the $7.4 billion Sandisk made in all of 2025.
Seagate’s revenue is steadily rising as AI demand contributed to its growth, but customers are not flocking to its products to the same degree as Sandisk. AI can continue to help Seagate’s sales grow, but the company is unlikely to see it take back the revenue lead from Sandisk any time soon.
The market expects Seagate (STX - Free Report) to deliver a year-over-year increase in earnings on higher revenues when it reports results for the quarter ended June 2026. This widely-known consensus outlook is important in assessing the company's earnings picture, but a powerful factor that might influence its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates.
The earnings report, which is expected to be released on July 28, might help the stock move higher if these key numbers are better than expectations. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.
While the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call, it's worth handicapping the probability of a positive EPS surprise.
Zacks Consensus EstimateThis electronic storage maker is expected to post quarterly earnings of $5.10 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +96.9%.
Revenues are expected to be $3.49 billion, up 43% from the year-ago quarter.
Estimate Revisions TrendThe consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.
Investors should keep in mind that the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts may not always get reflected in the aggregate change.
Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Earnings WhisperEstimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. Our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) -- has this insight at its core.
The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier.
Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only.
A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP.
Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell).
How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for Seagate?For Seagate, the Most Accurate Estimate is higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bullish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of +1.75%.
On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #1.
So, this combination indicates that Seagate will most likely beat the consensus EPS estimate.
Does Earnings Surprise History Hold Any Clue?While calculating estimates for a company's future earnings, analysts often consider to what extent it has been able to match past consensus estimates. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number.
For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Seagate would post earnings of $3.5 per share when it actually produced earnings of $4.10, delivering a surprise of +17.14%.
Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates four times.
Bottom LineAn earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss.
That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.
Seagate appears a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release.
Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.
SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK | SNDK Price Prediction) and Seagate Technology (NASDAQ: STX) just delivered blockbuster March quarter results, and both credit the same force: AI data creation.
One sells NAND flash for high-speed inference. The other sells nearline HDDs that warehouse petabytes cheaply. Comparing them now shows how storage is splitting into two distinct AI supply chains.
Flash Explodes. Spinning Disks Grind Higher. SanDisk posted $5.95 billion in revenue, a 251% jump, with Datacenter alone surging 645% year over year to $1.467 billion. Gross margin swung to 78.4% from 22.5% a year ago, a move that only makes sense when NAND pricing is genuinely scarce. CEO David Goeckeler called it “a fundamental inflection point” tied to BiCS8 flash and High Bandwidth Flash for AI inference.
Seagate’s numbers look calmer but no less structural. Revenue reached $3.11 billion, up 44.1%, with non-GAAP gross margin hitting 47%. Free cash flow leapt to $953 million from $216 million. Dave Mosley framed the quarter as “a new era of structural growth as AI applications amplify data creation.” The Mozaic HAMR platform is now qualified with five of the world’s largest cloud customers.
Two Very Different Bets on AI Storage Lens SanDisk Seagate Core Tech BiCS8 NAND, High Bandwidth Flash HAMR Mozaic areal density Customer Model Multi-year NBM firm commitments Build-to-order, capacity spoken for Balance Sheet Zero long-term debt Debt paydown, convert dilution risk Key Vulnerability NAND pricing swings, Kioxia reliance HDD cyclicality, tariff exposure SanDisk is locking hyperscalers into five New Business Model agreements with firm financial commitments, trying to convert a historically brutal commodity cycle into something that looks like a subscription.
Seagate is doing the opposite in spirit: leaning on decades of areal density expertise to be the cheapest place to park an exabyte. Mosley noted nearline capacity is committed through mid-calendar 2026, which is the sort of visibility HDD investors rarely get.
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The Next Test Is Whether Pricing Holds SanDisk guided Q4 revenue to $7.75 billion to $8.25 billion and EPS to $30 to $33, which prices in another leg of NAND tightness. I will watch consumer, which slipped 10% sequentially, and any hint that Kioxia supply dynamics shift.
Seagate’s guide of $3.45 billion revenue and $5 EPS depends on Mozaic ramping cleanly at 4-plus TB per disk. Both stocks have cooled recently, with SNDK down 23.38% over the past month and STX off 18.64%, so expectations are elevated.
Why I Lean Seagate for Durability, SanDisk for Torque On the data, Seagate looks like the steadier expression of the AI storage story. The 47% gross margin and build-to-order visibility feel structural and durable.
SanDisk offers more upside if NAND stays tight, and the 580% YTD run shows the market agrees, but a 60x P/E leaves less margin for error. For investors focused on AI torque, SanDisk carries more upside tied to NAND pricing, while Seagate offers steadier cash flow visibility.
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Key Takeaways MU is benefiting from AI-driven demand for HBM, DRAM, NAND and data center SSDs backed by customer agreements.SNDK expects stronger datacenter NAND demand as AI inference expands and enterprise SSD adoption accelerates.Seagate and Western Digital are advancing high-capacity storage to meet rising AI-driven data center demand. The global memory market is getting rapidly reshaped by artificial intelligence as AI requires a large capacity of memory and storage across its computing stack. Unlike traditional workloads, AI training and inference rely on massive datasets, larger models and significantly higher memory bandwidth, driving demand for advanced memory technologies such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM), DDR5 DRAM and enterprise solid-state drives (SSDs).
As AI adoption expands beyond hyperscale data centers to enterprise applications, AI-enabled personal computers, smartphones and edge devices, memory is becoming an increasingly critical component of modern computing infrastructure. The proliferation of AI applications across industries, along with the existing use of memory in conventional servers and enterprise storage systems, is generating additional demand for high-performance storage solutions capable of handling larger datasets with lower latency.
On the supply side, the memory industry remains highly capital-intensive and technologically complex. Expanding production capacity requires significant investment, advanced manufacturing expertise and lengthy qualification cycles. Moreover, global DRAM and NAND production is concentrated among a small number of suppliers, making supply growth relatively measured compared with rapidly evolving demand. Advanced memory technologies such as HBM involve even greater manufacturing complexity, further reinforcing barriers to rapid capacity expansion.
These structural dynamics are creating favorable long-term tailwinds for companies participating in the memory ecosystem. Manufacturers of advanced memory products are well-positioned to benefit from rising demand for AI infrastructure, while suppliers of enterprise storage solutions stand to gain from the continued growth of AI-generated data. Micron Technology, Inc. (MU - Free Report) , Sandisk Corporation (SNDK - Free Report) , Seagate Technology Holdings plc (STX - Free Report) and Western Digital Corporation (WDC - Free Report) are four such stocks in the memory space that appear well-positioned to benefit from the ongoing AI boom. These stocks have a favorable combination of a Growth Score of A or B and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Our Picks
Micron Technology holds a key position in the AI-driven memory and storage market. Tighter DRAM and NAND supply and a richer mix of HBM, data center SSD and high-capacity products are driving MU’s business. Micron Technology is reinforcing its competitive position through long-term strategic customer agreements (SCAs), which secure multi-year demand across DRAM, HBM and NAND products.
Given the high demand for HBM3E, HBM4 and future generations, it exceeds the company's ability to supply, even under multi-year customer agreements. The company is also pioneering a role in low-power DRAM (LPDRAM) for data centers through the SOCAMM form factor, which improves power efficiency, performance and memory density for AI servers.
MU’s revenues soared 345.7% year over year to $41.46 billion, and its non-GAAP earnings of $25.11 per share grew 12 times year over year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2026 EPS suggests a year-over-year increase of approximately 791%. The consensus mark for fiscal 2026 earnings has been revised upward over the past seven days. Currently, MU sports a Zacks Rank #1 and has a Growth Score of A.
Micron Technology, Inc. Price and Consensus
Micron Technology, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Micron Technology, Inc. Quote
Sandisk is a major player in the SSD and NAND markets. The company’s data center revenues are scaling as it expands its enterprise SSD portfolio and moves toward adding QLC products in its portfolio. As NAND becomes a critical part of AI inference architectures such as KV cache and RAG, Sandisk is expected to gain. Sandisk raised its 2026 datacenter exabyte growth view to the mid-70% range and reiterated that demand is moving higher on a rolling basis. Enterprise SSD is also expected to gain traction in the next several quarters and years.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2026 revenues and EPS suggests a year-over-year increase of approximately 166% and 2,125%, respectively. The consensus mark for fiscal 2026 earnings has been revised upward over the past seven days. Currently, Sandisk sports a Zacks Rank #1 and has a Growth Score of A.
Seagate Technology is strengthening its position in the AI-driven memory and storage market through its expanding portfolio of high-capacity HDDs and enterprise storage solutions. While SSD adoption continues to grow in latency-sensitive applications such as AI servers and enterprise workloads, HDDs remain the most cost-effective solution for large-scale data storage. Seagate's HAMR-based Mozaic platform enables higher-capacity drives with improved power and cost efficiency, positioning the company to benefit from rising AI-driven data creation and growing demand for hyperscale and enterprise storage.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2026 revenues and EPS suggests a year-over-year increase of approximately 32% and 84%, respectively. The consensus mark for fiscal 2026 earnings has remained unchanged for the past 30 days. Currently, Seagate Technology flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 and has a Growth Score of A.
Western Digital is strengthening its AI storage leadership through high-capacity HDDs and enterprise SSDs. The company is advancing its ePMR, UltraSMR and HAMR roadmaps to deliver higher-density, energy-efficient drives while expanding enterprise SSD offerings. As AI-driven data creation accelerates, Western Digital is well-positioned to benefit from growing demand for scalable, cost-effective storage across hyperscale and enterprise data centers.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2026 EPS suggests a year-over-year increase of approximately 104%. The consensus mark for fiscal 2026 earnings has been revised upward in the past 30 days. Currently, Western Digital sports a Zacks Rank #1 and has a Growth Score of B.
Negativní sentiment se před koncem obchodní seance ještě více prohloubil. Může za to silný pokles technologického giganta Google, u kterého přišla zpráva, že je v několikaměsíčním zpoždění s vydáním nové vlajkové AI verze Geminy Pro 3.5. V prostředí velké konkurence to může mít neblahý efekt ztráty poptávky. Akcie Alphabet končí silnou ztrátou –4,43 %.
Nevalný výsledek zažil i čipový sektor, kde velkou váhu poklesu má na svědomí Micron -5,65 % či AMD -5,33 %.
Oproti tomu se dařilo defenzivním sektorům spotřebního zboží či služeb. McDonald přidal slušných +3,04 %, PepsiCo též +2,97 % a například kartová asociace Mastercard +3,04 %.
Ropa WTI stále mírně ztrácela -0,75 %. Negativní vývoj na burze tedy dnes nebyl ovlivněn negativní geopolitickou situací.
Index Dow Jones -0,2 % na 52553,62 b.
S&P 500 -0,51 % na 7533,89 b.
Nasdaq Composite -1,47 % na 25881,95 b.
Index S&P 500 -0,51 % na 7533,89 b. Nejsilnější sektory S&P Změna Nejslabší sektory S&P Změna Nezbytná spotřeba +2,9 % Komunikační služby -2,8 % Zdravotní péče +2,2 % Informační technologie -1,8 % Reality +2,1 % Zbytná spotřeba -0,3 % Nejsilnější akcie S&P Změna Nejslabší akcie S&P Změna Abbott Laboratories (ABT) +11 % Sandisk Corp (SNDK) -13 % JB Hunt Transport Services (JBHT) +8,0 % Seagate Technology Holdings (STX) -10,0 % Fedex Freight Holding (FDXF) +7,5 % Corning (GLW) -9,2 % Erie Indemnity (ERIE) +7,5 % Western Digital Corp (WDC) -9,2 % Dexcom (DXCM) +7,2 % Marvell Technology (MRVL) -8,7 %
Jan Pazourek, Fio banka, a.s.
I keep buying Seagate because every time I look at what it costs a hyperscaler to store a petabyte, the math ends at the same place, and my brokerage account ends at the same button. The core of my conviction rests on physics turned into a bill of materials. Seagate’s HAMR-based Mozaic platform lets it pack more terabytes onto the same platters, using roughly the same parts, and that is the cheapest way to hold the ocean of data the AI era keeps generating.
CEO Dave Mosley described the mechanics plainly on the March quarter call: “Mozaic 4 can deliver up to 44 terabytes per drive, over 30% more capacity compared to the first-generation Mozaic drives, which we achieved with the same number of disks and heads with minimal change to the bill of materials.” More capacity, same parts. That is a cost curve I want to own.
The Receipts Behind the Conviction The financials are catching up to the technology. In fiscal Q3 2026, Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX | STX Price Prediction) posted revenue of $3.11 billion, up 44.07% year over year, non-GAAP EPS of $4.10, and non-GAAP gross margin of 47.0%, up from 36.2% a year earlier. Free cash flow reached $953 million versus $216 million in the prior year quarter. During the same three months the company retired $641 million of debt and returned $191 million to shareholders through dividends and buybacks.
Visibility is the second reason I keep adding. Mosley said “Our nearline exabyte production capacity is largely spoken for through the middle of next calendar year.” Management guided Q4 FY2026 revenue to $3.45 billion and non-GAAP EPS to $5.00 at the midpoint. The third reason is the dividend. Seagate pays a quarterly dividend of $0.74, most recently paid July 7, 2026, and it is now backed by real cash generation rather than balance sheet gymnastics.
Why Not Western Digital or Micron The two names a reader would reach for first are Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) and Micron (NASDAQ:MU). I passed on both. Western Digital is the direct HDD peer, but Seagate got to volume HAMR first with Mozaic drives shipped for revenue to 75% of the leading global cloud customers in the March quarter. That head start on areal density shows up in Seagate’s 47% non-GAAP gross margin, a level WDC’s HDD unit has not matched. Micron sells flash, and flash still costs multiples per terabyte of what a Mozaic 4 platter costs. For nearline mass capacity, SSDs are the wrong tool at the wrong price. If storing agentic AI’s history is the job, HDDs win the economics, and Seagate builds the best of them.
The Risk I Am Not Ignoring Insider activity has leaned toward net selling recently, with 243 recent insider transactions trending that way, and Seagate carries real cyclicality plus disclosed exposure to tariff and trade policy uncertainty and BIS settlement payments. I take that seriously. What keeps me buying anyway is the build-to-order book: capacity sold, pricing set, and mix locked in. Cyclicality bites hardest when supply outruns demand. Right now demand is outrunning supply.
Forward Conviction Analyst consensus sits at $975.13 against a current price of $878.31, and the forward P/E is 37. Until someone matches Mozaic’s cost-per-terabyte, my capital keeps riding the toll road that AI’s data exhaust has to travel.
Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Seagate Technology didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.
SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ: STX), a leading innovator of mass-capacity data storage, will report fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal year 2026 financial results after the US market closes on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. The investment community conference call to discuss these results will take place that day at 2:00 PM PT / 5:00 PM ET.
The live audio webcast can be accessed online at Seagate’s Investor Relations website at investors.seagate.com.
About Seagate Technology
Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) is a pioneer in mass-capacity data storage, accelerating ability to harness the full value of data. Our portfolio of advanced storage solutions helps hyperscale cloud providers, enterprises, and consumers protect, create and manage the data that powers their transformation and growth. For more than 45 years, Seagate has driven breakthrough innovations that bring sustainable, high-performance storage to the world at-scale. Learn more at www.seagate.com, and follow us on LinkedIn, YouTube, X and Facebook.
Seagate Technology STX shares rose on Friday after Wells Fargo upgraded the data storage company to an Overweight rating.
The analyst cited growing confidence in its long-term earnings potential and sustained demand for hard-disk drives (HDDs) driven by artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The upgrade comes after Seagate shares pulled back in recent weeks amid concerns over the sustainability of AI-related spending, despite the stock remaining up more than 500% over the past 12 months.
Rival Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC), which has also benefited from the AI infrastructure boom, is up nearly 800% over the same period.
Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers upgraded Seagate from Equal Weight to Overweight and raised the firm's price target to $1,100 from $900.
"With the recent market pullback and increasing confidence in what we view as a path to plus-$50 earnings-per-share and significant (capital) return capacity ahead, we upgrade STX to Overweight with a $1,100 price target," Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers said in a note for clients.
Rakers also lifted his price target on Western Digital to $730 from $575 while maintaining an Overweight rating.
The analyst said he remains "positive on HDDs" ahead of June-quarter earnings and increased estimates for both companies.
He projects Seagate's annual earnings per share will rise from $21.60 this year to $53.69 by 2028.
Rakers expects both storage companies to emphasize "extending demand visibility" through long-term purchase agreements with customers.
Seagate said during its latest earnings call that the top three global cloud service providers have nearly doubled their Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO) to a record $1.1 trillion, reflecting growing long-term commitments for cloud and AI infrastructure.
The company said the expanding pipeline of contracted revenue should support demand for its high-capacity storage products.
Seagate also highlighted strong momentum for its Mozaic platform and Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) technology, with its 3TB-per-disk HAMR drives shipping to its first cloud service provider during 2025.
According to the company, AI applications are driving higher data creation, longer retention requirements and greater reliance on historical datasets, increasing demand for cost- and energy-efficient HDDs.
Seagate said its strategy is built around durable storage demand, a strong technology roadmap and disciplined execution.
It also raised its annual revenue growth outlook to at least 20%.
The company added that nearline storage products account for about 90% of exabyte shipments, with production capacity largely allocated through 2027 under long-term supply agreements, build-to-order contracts and value-based pricing arrangements.
Western Digital continues expanding its Platforms business to serve enterprise and mid-scale cloud customers while increasing adoption of its UltraSMR technology.
The company said three of its largest customers have already adopted UltraSMR, with management expecting all major customers to qualify the technology by the end of calendar 2027.
Micron Technology is also strengthening customer commitments through long-term supply agreements across data center, consumer and automotive markets.
The memory-chip maker said it has signed 16 strategic customer agreements covering roughly 20% of DRAM volumes and one-third of NAND volumes during the contract period.
Fourteen of those agreements represent approximately $100 billion in cumulative minimum contract revenue and include projected customer deposits and financial commitments totaling $22 billion, including about $18 billion in cash deposits.
Key Takeaways Seagate raised its annual revenue growth outlook to at least 20% on stronger cloud demand.STX said Mozaic HAMR drives shipped to its first CSP as AI boosts demand for high-capacity HDDs.STX said nearline capacity is largely allocated through 2027, supporting visibility into 2028 and beyond. On its last earnings call, Seagate Technology Holdings plc (STX - Free Report) highlighted that the top three global cloud service providers (CSPs) have nearly doubled their Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO) to a record $1.1 trillion, signaling a massive pipeline of future cloud and AI infrastructure spending that could drive stronger demand for STX's high-capacity storage solutions. RPO represents the total value of contracted revenue that companies have yet to recognize. For cloud providers, RPO includes multi-year commitments from enterprise customers using cloud infrastructure, AI services, software platforms and data solutions.
Seagate highlighted strong momentum in HAMR adoption in 2025, with Mozaic-based 3TB-per-disk HAMR drives shipping to its first CSP. STX’s strategy rests on three pillars: durable storage demand, a strong technology roadmap and disciplined execution. AI-driven applications are accelerating data creation, increasing retention needs and expanding reliance on historical datasets from cloud to edge, reinforcing demand for cost- and energy-efficient, high-capacity HDDs. Its Mozaic platform and HAMR innovation position it to meet this demand with timely technology, while its build-to-order model, pricing discipline and capital allocation framework drive margin expansion and long-term value creation.
This combination is already pushing performance ahead of prior targets, leading Seagate to raise its annual revenue growth outlook to at least 20%. Confidence is supported by sustained cloud investment, with hyperscalers continuing to expand infrastructure spending and future commitments, as reflected in sharply rising RPO levels. Nearline products—about 90% of exabyte shipments—remain in high demand, with capacity largely allocated through 2027, supported by long-term supply agreements, build-to-order contracts and value-based pricing that enhance visibility and profitability into 2028 and beyond.
Rising CSP Spending Intensifies Storage Competition for STXWestern Digital Corporation (WDC - Free Report) is gaining from strength across end markets, riding on AI-led storage needs and multi-year agreements extending through 2028-29. To address the growing needs of mid-scale cloud and enterprise customers, WD is expanding its Platforms business to deliver hyperscale-like efficiency without requiring hyperscale resources. With UltraSMR technology, compatible across both ePMR and HAMR drives, WDC is broadening customer adoption. Three of its largest customers have already embraced the technology, with two meeting nearly all of their exabyte demand through UltraSMR and the third quickly scaling toward similar levels. Management expects all major customers to be qualified on UltraSMR by the end of calendar 2027.
Micron Technology (MU - Free Report) is transforming its customer relationships through strategic agreements across data center, consumer and auto markets. MU has signed 16 SCAs, generally structured as take-or-pay agreements with binding volume commitments over multiple years. These signed agreements represent roughly 20% of DRAM volume and a third of NAND volume over the agreement period. When completed, Micron expects half or more of its revenues to be under SCAs. Fourteen of the 16 agreements have cumulative revenues at minimum contract pricing of approximately $100 billion. The signed agreements also include projected customer deposits and related financial commitments of $22 billion, including approximately $18 billion in cash deposits.
STX’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesIn the past year, STX shares have skyrocketed 504.7%, outperforming the Computer Integrated Systems industry’s growth of 227.6%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Going by the price/earnings ratio, the company’s shares currently trade at 31.48 forward earnings compared with 14.04 for the industry.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
STX is currently witnessing an uptrend in estimate revisions. Earnings estimates for fiscal 2026 have inched up 0.3% to $14.93 over the past 60 days, while the same for fiscal 2027 has gone up 6.5% to $28.05.
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STX currently boasts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Seagate (STX) shares moved slightly higher after Wells Fargo upgraded the stock. Alex Coffey talks about the analyst note, which also includes a price target hike for Western Digital (WDC).
Top Wall Street analysts changed their outlook on these top names. For a complete view of all analyst rating changes, including upgrades and downgrades, please see our analyst ratings page.
Considering buying STX stock? Here’s what analysts think:
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While markets focus on Micron (MU), SanDisk (SNDK), and SK Hynix's debut on the Nasdaq, Ben Watson of Charles Schwab turns to a stock that hasn't been in the headlines as much: Seagate (STX). He talks about the upgrade it got from Wells Fargo and highlights key trends in the stock chart to watch.
Key Takeaways Seagate is benefiting from AI-driven storage demand, supporting higher revenue growth and margin expansion.STX is advancing HAMR with Mozaic drives, targeting higher-capacity enterprise HDDs through 2027.STX is boosting shareholder returns with debt reduction, dividends, buybacks and strong cash flow. The AI boom has reshaped the technology landscape, creating massive demand not only for GPUs and cloud infrastructure but also for data storage solutions. As enterprises generate and retain unprecedented amounts of AI training and inference data, storage has become a critical piece of the AI value chain.
Among the biggest beneficiaries of this trend has been Seagate Technology Holdings plc (STX - Free Report) , surging an impressive 505.6% over the past year. It has outpaced the Zacks Computer-Integrated Systems industry, the Zacks Computer & Technology sector and the S&P 500’s run of 218.8%, 34.4%, and 23.1%, respectively, in the same period.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
STX’s shares have exceeded its industry peers like International Business Machines Corporation (IBM - Free Report) , but lagged HDD behemoth and its direct competitor Western Digital Corporation (WDC - Free Report) and storage rival Micron Technology (MU - Free Report) . WDC, MU and IBM have gained 751.4%, 676.2% and 4.1%, respectively, during the same time frame.
STX remains one of the world's leading manufacturers of enterprise HDDs and has been aggressively developing next-generation high-capacity drives specifically designed for AI data centers. The company boasts a 52-week high of $1,145. Nonetheless, such an extraordinary rally naturally raises an important question for investors: Can Seagate continue climbing, or has the market already priced in most of the opportunity?
Accelerating AI Infrastructure Spending Fuels STX’s ExpansionAI is driving an explosion in data storage. As hyperscale cloud providers continue expanding AI infrastructure, they increasingly rely on a combination of SSDs for active workloads and HDDs for large-scale data storage. This industry trend plays directly into Seagate's strengths. Major cloud providers, including Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Meta Platforms, continue investing tens of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure. As they expand AI data centers, demand for enterprise storage is rising, creating a strong long-term growth opportunity for Seagate.
Management highlighted that the company is entering a “new era of structural growth” driven by strong AI-led demand, rising adoption of Mozaic products and disciplined execution focused on expanding margins, cash flow and long-term value. While SSDs dominate high-speed applications, HDDs remain significantly more cost-effective for bulk storage—especially critical in hyperscale data centers supporting AI infrastructure. Seagate is well-positioned to capture this expanding opportunity through a technology strategy focused on increasing areal density rather than unit volumes, enabling a more capital- and manufacturing-efficient path to scale while improving cost and power efficiency per terabyte. This supports its target of mid-20% exabyte growth.
HAMR Technology Gives STX a Competitive EdgeInvestment in HAMR technology is STX’s key competitive advantage. Seagate’s focus on areal density and HAMR technology supports capacity growth and cost efficiency, with new product generations planned. Mozaic 4, second-generation HAMR, delivers up to 44TB per drive, 30% more capacity than the first generation. Mozaic 4 shipments began in late March and are expected to command 70% of HAMR shipments by the end of fiscal 2027. Mozaic 5 is in development, targeting 50TB capacity, with qualification shipments in late 2027. HAMR exabyte crossover is expected by the end of 2026. The focus is on increasing capacity per unit rather than unit volume, leveraging technology to improve aerial density.
Second-generation HAMR enables continued growth, with third-generation drives with 50TB capacity expected by the end of next year. Technology innovations include laser, photonic circuitry and media improvements, with minimal impact on the bill of materials. Seagate's strategy is built on durable storage demand, technology leadership and disciplined execution. Rising AI-driven data creation is boosting demand for cost- and energy-efficient, high-capacity HDDs, while its Mozaic platform and HAMR technology strengthen its competitive position. Backed by build-to-order contracts, pricing discipline and long-term supply agreements, Seagate is improving margin visibility and profitability.
Strong hyperscaler investment and sustained nearline storage demand have prompted the company to raise its annual revenue growth outlook to at least 20%, with capacity largely committed through 2027. Seagate's disciplined pricing strategy, supported by build-to-order contracts, provides greater revenue visibility and margin stability. Strong year-over-year and sequential price increases reflect robust demand, while most pricing for fiscal 2027 is already locked in with a significant portion of capacity allocated over the next four quarters. This approach is expected to support sequential revenue and profit growth throughout fiscal 2027, with management anticipating stable pricing trends rather than further acceleration.
Seagate's margins continue to outperform expectations, driven by strong demand, a favorable product mix and technology-led cost efficiencies. Incremental gross margins have exceeded the company's 50% target, supported by higher-capacity drives, improved yields and greater production efficiency. Management expects further margin expansion as Mozaic 5 and other technology advancements enhance cost and performance.
Strong Cash Returns Enhance the Investment CaseConsistent free cash flow generation strengthens Seagate's balance sheet and provides flexibility for future investments. Seagate also rewards shareholders through dividends. The company has maintained an attractive dividend policy while continuing to invest in product innovation. For income-focused investors, this provides an additional layer of return beyond potential share-price appreciation.
Seagate is using its strong cash flow to reduce debt while returning capital to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. After retiring $641 million in debt last quarter, the company plans to reduce its remaining convertible notes further, expand buybacks and continue investing in growth, reinforcing its commitment to long-term shareholder value. It will maintain capital discipline while continuing the transition and ramp-up of HAMR technology, with fiscal 2026 capital spending expected to remain within its target range of 4–6% of revenue.
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However, investors should remain aware of several risks. The HDD industry remains cyclical, making shipments vulnerable to customer inventory corrections, slower enterprise spending and weaker PC demand. Declining SSD prices could also intensify competition, although HDDs continue to offer a significant cost advantage for exabyte-scale storage. Additionally, Seagate's reliance on large hyperscale cloud customers means changes in their purchasing schedules can lead to quarter-to-quarter revenue volatility.
Positive Estimate Revision Trend for STXSTX is currently witnessing an uptrend in estimate revisions. Earnings estimates for fiscal 2026 have inched up 0.3% to $14.93 over the past 60 days, while the same for fiscal 2027 has gone up 6.5% to $28.05.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Valuation VulnerabilitiesGoing by the price/earnings ratio, the company’s shares currently trade at 30.54 forward earnings compared with 13.5 for the industry.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
In comparison, the forward 12-month price/earnings multiple for IBM, MU and WDC are 23.35X, 6.73X and 29.54X, respectively.
Is More Upside Ahead for STX Stock?Seagate's growth outlook is driven by several long-term catalysts, including sustained AI infrastructure spending, broader adoption of HAMR technology, increasing enterprise data storage needs and continued expansion of cloud data centers. Improving storage pricing, robust free cash flow and ongoing margin expansion could further boost earnings. Successful execution of its technology roadmap would strengthen Seagate's leadership in enterprise storage and support additional upside over the long term.
For investors who believe AI-driven data creation will continue accelerating over the next decade, Seagate remains an attractive way to gain exposure to one of the essential segments of the AI supply chain. While short-term pullbacks are always possible after such a strong run, the company's technological prowess, improving profitability and exposure to one of the fastest-growing technology trends suggest there could still be further upside over the long term.
Boasting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) currently, STX is a portfolio must-have. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
If you are looking for a stock that has a solid history of beating earnings estimates and is in a good position to maintain the trend in its next quarterly report, you should consider Seagate (STX - Free Report) . This company, which is in the Zacks Computer - Integrated Systems industry, shows potential for another earnings beat.
This electronic storage maker has seen a nice streak of beating earnings estimates, especially when looking at the previous two reports. The average surprise for the last two quarters was 13.52%.
For the last reported quarter, Seagate came out with earnings of $4.1 per share versus the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.5 per share, representing a surprise of 17.14%. For the previous quarter, the company was expected to post earnings of $2.83 per share and it actually produced earnings of $3.11 per share, delivering a surprise of 9.89%.
Price and EPS Surprise
With this earnings history in mind, recent estimates have been moving higher for Seagate. In fact, the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) for the company is positive, which is a great sign of an earnings beat, especially when you combine this metric with its nice Zacks Rank.
Our research shows that stocks with the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time. In other words, if you have 10 stocks with this combination, the number of stocks that beat the consensus estimate could be as high as seven.
The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a version of the Zacks Consensus whose definition is related to change. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier.
Seagate currently has an Earnings ESP of +1.75%, which suggests that analysts have recently become bullish on the company's earnings prospects. This positive Earnings ESP when combined with the stock's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) indicates that another beat is possibly around the corner.
With the Earnings ESP metric, it's important to note that a negative value reduces its predictive power; however, a negative Earnings ESP does not indicate an earnings miss.
Many companies end up beating the consensus EPS estimate, but that may not be the sole basis for their stocks moving higher. On the other hand, some stocks may hold their ground even if they end up missing the consensus estimate.
Because of this, it's really important to check a company's Earnings ESP ahead of its quarterly release to increase the odds of success. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.
Launched on May 8, 2007, the First Trust Large Cap Growth AlphaDEX ETF (FTC - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Large Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.
The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $1.37 billion, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the Large Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.
Why Large Cap GrowthLarge cap companies typically have a market capitalization above $10 billion. Considered a more stable option, large cap companies boast more predictable cash flows and are less volatile than their mid and small cap counterparts.
Growth stocks have higher than average sales and earnings growth rates. While these are expected to grow faster than the broader market, they also have higher valuations. Further, growth stocks have a higher level of volatility associated with them. When you consider growth versus value, growth stocks are usually the clear winner in strong bull markets but tend to fall flat in nearly all other environments.
CostsSince cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.58%, putting it on par with most peer products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.14%.
Sector Exposure and Top HoldingsETFs offer a diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Industrials sector -- about 27.1% of the portfolio. Information Technology and Financials round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Seagate Technology Holdings Plc (STX) accounts for about 1.5% of total assets, followed by Vertiv Holdings Co (class A) (VRT) and Mastec, Inc. (MTZ).
The top 10 holdings account for about 12.96% of total assets under management.
Performance and RiskFTC seeks to match the performance of the Nasdaq AlphaDEX Large Cap Growth Index before fees and expenses. The NASDAQ AlphaDEX Large Cap Growth Index is an enhanced index which employs the AlphaDEX stock selection methodology to select stocks from the NASDAQ US 500 Large Cap Growth Index.
The ETF return is roughly 16.68% so far this year and it's up approximately 23.02% in the last one year (as of 07/07/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $148.93 and $194.14.
The ETF has a beta of 1.13 and standard deviation of 19.01% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 188 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
AlternativesFirst Trust Large Cap Growth AlphaDEX ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, FTC is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Growth segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.
The Vanguard Growth Index Fund ETF Shares (VUG) and the Invesco QQQ (QQQ) track a similar index. While Vanguard Growth Index Fund ETF Shares has $224.76 billion in assets, Invesco QQQ has $481.89 billion. VUG has an expense ratio of 0.03% and QQQ charges 0.18%.
Bottom-LineAn increasingly popular option among retail and institutional investors, passively managed ETFs offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; they are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
Seagate (STX - Free Report) could be a solid choice for investors given its recent upgrade to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). This upgrade primarily reflects an upward trend in earnings estimates, which is one of the most powerful forces impacting stock prices.
The sole determinant of the Zacks rating is a company's changing earnings picture. The Zacks Consensus Estimate -- the consensus of EPS estimates from the sell-side analysts covering the stock -- for the current and following years is tracked by the system.
Since a changing earnings picture is a powerful factor influencing near-term stock price movements, the Zacks rating system is very useful for individual investors. They may find it difficult to make decisions based on rating upgrades by Wall Street analysts, as these are mostly driven by subjective factors that are hard to see and measure in real time.
Therefore, the Zacks rating upgrade for Seagate basically reflects positivity about its earnings outlook that could translate into buying pressure and an increase in its stock price.
Most Powerful Force Impacting Stock PricesThe change in a company's future earnings potential, as reflected in earnings estimate revisions, and the near-term price movement of its stock are proven to be strongly correlated. The influence of institutional investors has a partial contribution to this relationship, as these big professionals use earnings and earnings estimates to calculate the fair value of a company's shares. An increase or decrease in earnings estimates in their valuation models simply results in higher or lower fair value for a stock, and institutional investors typically buy or sell it. Their transaction of large amounts of shares then leads to price movement for the stock.
Fundamentally speaking, rising earnings estimates and the consequent rating upgrade for Seagate imply an improvement in the company's underlying business. Investors should show their appreciation for this improving business trend by pushing the stock higher.
Harnessing the Power of Earnings Estimate RevisionsEmpirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock movements, so it could be truly rewarding if such revisions are tracked for making an investment decision. Here is where the tried-and-tested Zacks Rank stock-rating system plays an important role, as it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions.
The Zacks Rank stock-rating system, which uses four factors related to earnings estimates to classify stocks into five groups, ranging from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive externally-audited track record, with Zacks Rank #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>> .
Earnings Estimate Revisions for SeagateThis electronic storage maker is expected to earn $14.93 per share for the fiscal year ending June 2026, which represents no year-over-year change.
Analysts have been steadily raising their estimates for Seagate. Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company has increased 48.8%.
Bottom LineUnlike the overly optimistic Wall Street analysts whose rating systems tend to be weighted toward favorable recommendations, the Zacks rating system maintains an equal proportion of "buy" and "sell" ratings for its entire universe of more than 4,000 stocks at any point in time. Irrespective of market conditions, only the top 5% of the Zacks-covered stocks get a "Strong Buy" rating and the next 15% get a "Buy" rating. So, the placement of a stock in the top 20% of the Zacks-covered stocks indicates its superior earnings estimate revision feature, making it a solid candidate for producing market-beating returns in the near term.
You can learn more about the Zacks Rank here >>>
The upgrade of Seagate to a Zacks Rank #1 positions it in the top 5% of the Zacks-covered stocks in terms of estimate revisions, implying that the stock might move higher in the near term.
Growth stocks are attractive to many investors, as above-average financial growth helps these stocks easily grab the market's attention and produce exceptional returns. However, it isn't easy to find a great growth stock.
By their very nature, these stocks carry above-average risk and volatility. Moreover, if a company's growth story is over or nearing its end, betting on it could lead to significant loss.
However, the task of finding cutting-edge growth stocks is made easy with the help of the Zacks Growth Style Score (part of the Zacks Style Scores system), which looks beyond the traditional growth attributes to analyze a company's real growth prospects.
Seagate (STX - Free Report) is on the list of such stocks currently recommended by our proprietary system. In addition to a favorable Growth Score, it carries a top Zacks Rank.
Research shows that stocks carrying the best growth features consistently beat the market. And returns are even better for stocks that possess the combination of a Growth Score of A or B and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy).
While there are numerous reasons why the stock of this electronic storage maker is a great growth pick right now, we have highlighted three of the most important factors below:
Earnings GrowthArguably nothing is more important than earnings growth, as surging profit levels is what most investors are after. For growth investors, double-digit earnings growth is highly preferable, as it is often perceived as an indication of strong prospects (and stock price gains) for the company under consideration.
While the historical EPS growth rate for Seagate is 2.6%, investors should actually focus on the projected growth. The company's EPS is expected to grow 85.6% this year, crushing the industry average, which calls for EPS growth of 56.7%.
Impressive Asset Utilization RatioGrowth investors often overlook asset utilization ratio, also known as sales-to-total-assets (S/TA) ratio, but it is an important feature of a real growth stock. This metric exhibits how efficiently a firm is utilizing its assets to generate sales.
Right now, Seagate has an S/TA ratio of 1.29, which means that the company gets $1.29 in sales for each dollar in assets. Comparing this to the industry average of 0.71, it can be said that the company is more efficient.
While the level of efficiency in generating sales matters a lot, so does the sales growth of a company. And Seagate is well positioned from a sales growth perspective too. The company's sales are expected to grow 38% this year versus the industry average of 29.6%.
Promising Earnings Estimate RevisionsSuperiority of a stock in terms of the metrics outlined above can be further validated by looking at the trend in earnings estimate revisions. A positive trend is of course favorable here. Empirical research shows that there is a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.
The current-year earnings estimates for Seagate have been revising upward. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has surged 6.3% over the past month.
Bottom LineSeagate has not only earned a Growth Score of A based on a number of factors, including the ones discussed above, but it also carries a Zacks Rank #1 because of the positive earnings estimate revisions.
You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
This combination positions Seagate well for outperformance, so growth investors may want to bet on it.
Key Takeaways Seagate's data center revenue rose 55% year over year to $2.5 billion on strong cloud demand. STX shipped Mozaic drives to 75% of leading cloud customers and targets full qualification this quarter.Seagate expects quarterly revenue growth and margin expansion through fiscal 2027 on strong demand. Seagate Technology Holdings plc’s (STX - Free Report) data center business continued to post strong performance during the third quarter of fiscal 2026, supported by sustained demand from cloud and enterprise customers. In the third quarter, the data center segment accounted for 80% of total revenue and 88% of exabyte shipments. The company shipped 175 exabytes to the data center market, representing a 6% sequential increase and 47% year-over-year growth, while data center revenue rose 12% sequentially and 55% from the prior-year period to $2.5 billion.
Cloud customers remain the primary contributor to data center revenue and capacity shipments. Seagate is expanding shipments of its Mozaic HAMR-based drives to address increasing cloud demand. During the third quarter, the company shipped Mozaic drives for revenue to 75% of the leading global cloud customers and expects to complete qualification with the remaining two customers during the current quarter. Enterprise OEM data center revenue also increased sequentially, reflecting broader deployment of AI applications and renewed demand for hybrid and tiered storage architectures.
Management highlighted that the company has recorded 10 consecutive quarters of revenue growth from cloud customers. Nearly all major cloud and hyperscale customers have entered exabyte-scale supply agreements with Seagate, while nearline capacity is almost fully allocated through calendar 2027. The company is also finalizing build-to-order contracts through fiscal 2027, providing defined product configurations and pricing, while strategic planning discussions are already extending into calendar 2028 and beyond.
For the fourth quarter, Seagate expects revenue of approximately $3.45 billion, plus or minus $100 million. The company projects non-GAAP operating expenses of about $295 million, with an operating margin in the lower 40% range. Management stated that strengthening exabyte demand, continued Mozaic product qualification and pricing execution support confidence in delivering quarterly revenue growth and margin expansion through fiscal 2027.
Taking a Look at STX’s CompetitorsWestern Digital Corporation (WDC - Free Report) continues to strengthen its data center business by delivering high-capacity HDDs that offer strong reliability, scalability, energy efficiency and low total cost of ownership for AI- and cloud-driven storage demand. The company shipped 222 exabytes during the quarter, up 34% year over year, including 4.1 million next-generation ePMR drives totaling 118 exabytes. It is advancing ePMR, HAMR and UltraSMR technologies, with 40TB UltraSMR ePMR drives under qualification at two hyperscalers and volume production targeted in the second half of fiscal 2026. Firm purchase orders from its top seven customers are secured through 2026, supported by multi-year agreements extending into 2027 and 2028.
NetApp (NTAP - Free Report) is benefiting from strong demand for data center storage driven by enterprise modernization and AI workloads. Fiscal 2026 all-flash revenue increased 11% year over year to $4.2 billion, while fourth-quarter all-flash revenue rose 18% to $1.2 billion, supported by demand across high-performance flash, capacity flash and block-optimized storage. The company is expanding its AI-focused portfolio with AFX and the AI Data Engine and reported more than 1,100 AI and data preparation wins during fiscal 2026. Management expects enterprise AI activity to increase in fiscal 2027, supporting continued demand for performance-oriented storage platforms across on-premises and cloud environments.
STX’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesIn the past year, STX’s shares have skyrocketed 517.4%, outperforming the Computer Integrated Systems industry’s growth of 234.1%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
In terms of forward price/earnings, STX’s shares are trading at 64.41X, higher than the industry’s 13.93X.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
STX is currently witnessing an uptrend in estimate revisions. Earnings estimates for fiscal 2026 have increased 0.3% to $14.93 over the past 60 days, while the same for fiscal 2027 has gone up 5.2% to $27.72.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
STX currently boasts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
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The research service features daily updates of the Zacks Rank and Zacks Industry Rank, full access to the Zacks #1 Rank List, Equity Research reports, and Premium stock screens, all of which will help you become a smarter, more confident investor.
Zacks Premium includes access to the Zacks Style Scores as well.
What are the Zacks Style Scores? Developed alongside the Zacks Rank, the Zacks Style Scores are a group of complementary indicators that help investors pick stocks with the best chances of beating the market over the next 30 days.
Each stock is given an alphabetic rating of A, B, C, D or F based on their value, growth, and momentum qualities. With this system, an A is better than a B, a B is better than a C, and so on, meaning the better the score, the better chance the stock will outperform.
The Style Scores are broken down into four categories:
Value ScoreValue investors love finding good stocks at good prices, especially before the broader market catches on to a stock's true value. Utilizing ratios like P/E, PEG, Price/Sales, Price/Cash Flow, and many other multiples, the Value Style Score identifies the most attractive and most discounted stocks.
Growth ScoreGrowth investors, on the other hand, are more concerned with a company's financial strength and health, and its future outlook. The Growth Style Score examines things like projected and historic earnings, sales, and cash flow to find stocks that will experience sustainable growth over time.
Momentum ScoreMomentum investors, who live by the saying "the trend is your friend," are most interested in taking advantage of upward or downward trends in a stock's price or earnings outlook. Utilizing one-week price change and the monthly percentage change in earnings estimates, among other factors, the Momentum Style Score can help determine favorable times to buy high-momentum stocks.
VGM ScoreIf you want a combination of all three Style Scores, then the VGM Score will be your friend. It rates each stock on their combined weighted styles, helping you find the companies with the most attractive value, best growth forecast, and most promising momentum. It's also one of the best indicators to use with the Zacks Rank.
How Style Scores Work with the Zacks Rank The Zacks Rank, which is a proprietary stock-rating model, employs earnings estimate revisions, or changes to a company's earnings expectations, to make building a winning portfolio easier.
Investors can count on the Zacks Rank's success, with #1 (Strong Buy) stocks producing an unmatched +23.94% average annual return since 1988, more than double the S&P 500's performance. But the model rates a large number of stocks, and there are over 200 companies with a Strong Buy rank, plus another 600 with a #2 (Buy) rank, on any given day.
With more than 800 top-rated stocks to choose from, it can certainly feel overwhelming to pick the ones that are right for you and your investing journey.
That's where the Style Scores come in.
To have the best chance of big returns, you'll want to always consider stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 that also have Style Scores of A or B, which will give you the highest probability of success. If you're looking at stocks with a #3 (Hold) rank, it's important they have Scores of A or B as well to ensure as much upside potential as possible.
Since the Scores were created to work together with the Zacks Rank, the direction of a stock's earnings estimate revisions should be a key factor when choosing which stocks to buy.
A stock with a #4 (Sell) or #5 (Strong Sell) rating, for instance, even one with Scores of A and B, will still have a declining earnings forecast, and a greater chance its share price will fall too.
Thus, the more stocks you own with a #1 or #2 Rank and Scores of A or B, the better.
Stock to Watch: Seagate (STX - Free Report) Headquartered at Dublin, Ireland, Seagate is a leading provider of data storage technology and infrastructure solutions. The company’s primary product offering is hard disk drives which is commonly referred to as disk drives, hard drives or HDDs. HDDs are used as the primary medium for storing digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating disks with magnetic surfaces.
STX is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of B.
Momentum investors should take note of this Computer and Technology stock. STX has a Momentum Style Score of A, and shares are up 4.1% over the past four weeks.
One analyst revised their earnings estimate upwards in the last 60 days for fiscal 2026. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.04 to $14.93 per share. STX boasts an average earnings surprise of +10.7%.
With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Momentum and VGM Style Scores, STX should be on investors' short list.
For new and old investors, taking full advantage of the stock market and investing with confidence are common goals. Zacks Premium provides lots of different ways to do both.
The research service features daily updates of the Zacks Rank and Zacks Industry Rank, full access to the Zacks #1 Rank List, Equity Research reports, and Premium stock screens, all of which will help you become a smarter, more confident investor.
Zacks Premium also includes the Zacks Style Scores.
What are the Zacks Style Scores? The Zacks Style Scores, developed alongside the Zacks Rank, are complementary indicators that rate stocks based on three widely-followed investing methodologies; they also help investors pick stocks with the best chances of beating the market over the next 30 days.
Based on their value, growth, and momentum characteristics, each stock is assigned a rating of A, B, C, D, or F. The better the score, the better chance the stock will outperform; an A is better than a B, a B is better than a C, and so on.
The Style Scores are broken down into four categories:
Value ScoreFinding good stocks at good prices, and discovering which companies are trading under their true value, are what value investors like to focus on. So, the Value Style Score takes into account ratios like P/E, PEG, Price/Sales, Price/Cash Flow, and a host of other multiples to highlight the most attractive and discounted stocks.
Growth ScoreGrowth investors are more concerned with a stock's future prospects, and the overall financial health and strength of a company. Thus, the Growth Style Score analyzes characteristics like projected and historic earnings, sales, and cash flow to find stocks that will see sustainable growth over time.
Momentum ScoreMomentum trading is all about taking advantage of upward or downward trends in a stock's price or earnings outlook, and these investors live by the saying "the trend is your friend." The Momentum Style Score can pinpoint good times to build a position in a stock, using factors like one-week price change and the monthly percentage change in earnings estimates.
VGM ScoreWhat if you like to use all three types of investing? The VGM Score is a combination of all Style Scores, making it one of the most comprehensive indicators to use with the Zacks Rank. It rates each stock on their combined weighted styles, which helps narrow down the companies with the most attractive value, best growth forecast, and most promising momentum.
How Style Scores Work with the Zacks Rank The Zacks Rank is a proprietary stock-rating model that harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions, or changes to a company's earnings expectations, to help investors build a successful portfolio.
Investors can count on the Zacks Rank's success, with #1 (Strong Buy) stocks producing an unmatched +23.94% average annual return since 1988, more than double the S&P 500's performance. But the model rates a large number of stocks, and there are over 200 companies with a Strong Buy rank, plus another 600 with a #2 (Buy) rank, on any given day.
But it can feel overwhelming to pick the right stocks for you and your investing goals with over 800 top-rated stocks to choose from.
That's where the Style Scores come in.
You want to make sure you're buying stocks with the highest likelihood of success, and to do that, you'll need to pick stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 that also have Style Scores of A or B. If you like a stock that only has a #3 (Hold) rank, it should also have Scores of A or B to guarantee as much upside potential as possible.
The direction of a stock's earnings estimate revisions should always be a key factor when choosing which stocks to buy, since the Scores were created to work together with the Zacks Rank.
For instance, a stock with a #4 (Sell) or #5 (Strong Sell) rating, even one that boasts Scores of A and B, still has a downward-trending earnings forecast, and a much greater likelihood its share price will decline as well.
Thus, the more stocks you own with a #1 or #2 Rank and Scores of A or B, the better.
Stock to Watch: Seagate (STX - Free Report) Headquartered at Dublin, Ireland, Seagate is a leading provider of data storage technology and infrastructure solutions. The company’s primary product offering is hard disk drives which is commonly referred to as disk drives, hard drives or HDDs. HDDs are used as the primary medium for storing digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating disks with magnetic surfaces.
STX is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of B.
Additionally, the company could be a top pick for growth investors. STX has a Growth Style Score of A, forecasting year-over-year earnings growth of 84.3% for the current fiscal year.
One analyst revised their earnings estimate higher in the last 60 days for fiscal 2026, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.04 to $14.93 per share. STX also boasts an average earnings surprise of +10.7%.
With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Growth and VGM Style Scores, STX should be on investors' short list.
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Few large-cap stocks have rerated as violently in 2026 as Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX | STX Price Prediction). The hard drive maker has ridden a wave of AI-driven storage demand, HAMR product qualification wins, and serial earnings beats to one of the largest moves in the NASDAQ this year. After such an extraordinary run, the question is whether the stock has already priced in the next several years of structural growth.
Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for Seagate is $910.77, modestly below the current quote of $968.53. That implies -5.96% over the next 12 months, with a confidence level of 90%. The recommendation is hold.
Metric Value Current Price $968.53 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $910.77 Upside/Downside -5.96% Recommendation HOLD Confidence Level 90% Why We Could Be Wrong Seagate is one of the most debated names in tech. Our 24/7 Wall St. price target sits below current levels, and the bull case is real. Mizuho lifted its target to $1,090 and Morgan Stanley took its target to $1,035 on a multi-year HDD shortage thesis. If pricing accelerates into fiscal 2027, the stock can clear our number.
How a 590% One-Year Run Reset the Setup Seagate has gained 252.59% year to date and 590.38% over the past year, with shares jumping 7.63% on June 29 alone.
The catalyst was Q3 FY2026 revenue of $3.11 billion, up 44.07% YoY, paired with non-GAAP EPS of $4.10 and a 47% non-GAAP gross margin. Data center revenue grew 55% YoY to $2.5 billion, and Seagate guided Q4 to $3.45 billion in revenue and $5 in EPS. Shares now sit 22% below the 52-week high of $1,144.18.
The Case for $1,100+ Bulls point to CEO Dave Mosley saying Seagate is “entering a new era of structural growth as AI applications amplify data creation and support sustained storage demand.” Management raised its annual revenue growth target from low- to mid-teens to a minimum of 20%, with nearline capacity allocated through calendar 2027 and the top three CSPs sitting on $1.1 trillion in RPO.
Melius Research initiated with a Buy and 55% upside on June 29. If Mozaic 4 hits 70% of nearline exabyte shipments by end of fiscal 2027, the bull case scenario points to $1,200.63.
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What Could Go Wrong The bear case starts with valuation. Fox Advisors downgraded to Equal-Weight on June 27, citing overly optimistic HDD pricing assumptions. Insider activity has turned to net selling across 197 transactions.
Risks include dilution from Exchangeable Senior Notes due 2028, Middle East exposure, and the Pillar Two minimum tax. Bulls counter that Seagate retired $641 million in debt last quarter and earned a Fitch upgrade to investment grade. The bear scenario points to $674.57, a reminder of how quickly multiples compress.
Seagate Price Prediction 2026-2030 The 24/7 Wall St. price target of $910.77 reflects high conviction in fundamentals and lower conviction in the multiple. The setup would strengthen if the June quarter prints another double-digit beat and management extends visibility into calendar 2028 with pricing intact. The thesis would weaken if HDD pricing flattens or hyperscaler capex softens. For now, the model reads hold.
Looking further out, here is where our model projects Seagate could trade, assuming current trajectories hold and the multiple normalizes toward the sector.
Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $910.77 2027 $935 2028 $950 2029 $960 2030 $962.95 These projections assume Seagate executes on its HAMR roadmap and AI storage demand stays durable. Significant upside could come from a structural HDD shortage extending into 2028, while sharper downside is possible if hyperscaler capex pauses or pricing rolls over.
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SummarySeagate Technology surged 241% since my last coverage, dramatically outperforming the benchmark's 7%.I remain bullish on STX, citing revolutionary AI-driven demand and ongoing catalysts in the data center and memory markets.I downgrade STX to Buy from Strong Buy, as much of the upside may be reflected in the current price.Despite the rally, I see potential for additional upside, though risks of a pullback remain. Just_Super/iStock via Getty Images
Sure enough, Seagate Technology (STX) was one of my best calls over the past year. The stock surged 241% since my previous coverage. And has dramatically outperformed the benchmark versus its 7%.
Do I still feel bullish? Quite frankly, I do. Personally, I view
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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, but may initiate a beneficial Long position through a purchase of the stock, or the purchase of call options or similar derivatives in STX over the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Data storage company Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (STX) rises 12,404% since first outlier inflow signal in 2005.
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STX is a leader in data storage, including hard disk drives, solid state hybrid drives, solid state drives, and other data storage and computing solutions – all of which is needed for the AI infrastructure build-out. Its third-quarter fiscal 2026 report showed $3.1 billion in quarterly revenue (a 44% year-over-year jump), $2.5 billion in data center revenue (up 55%), non-GAAP per-share earnings of $4.10 (up 115%), and annual growth guidance of at least 20% per year over the next few years.
No wonder STX shares are up 272% so far this year – and they could rise more. MoneyFlows data shows how Big Money investors are again betting heavily on the stock.
Seagate Sought by Institutions Institutional volumes reveal plenty. In the last year, STX has enjoyed strong investor demand, which we believe to be institutional support.
Each green bar signals unusually large volumes in STX shares. They reflect our proprietary inflow signal, pushing the stock higher:
Source: www.moneyflows.com Plenty of technology names are under accumulation right now. But there’s a powerful fundamental story happening with Seagate.
Seagate Fundamental Analysis Institutional support and a healthy fundamental backdrop make this company worth investigating. As you can see, STX has had strong sales and earnings growth:
Also, EPS is estimated to ramp higher this year by +85.7%.
Now it makes sense why the stock has been generating Big Money interest. STX has a track record of strong financial performance.
Marrying great fundamentals with MoneyFlows software has found some big winning stocks over the long term.
Seagate has been a top-rated stock at MoneyFlows for years. That means the stock has unusual buy pressure and growing fundamentals. We have a ranking process that showcases stocks like this on a weekly basis.
It’s had 42 Big Money outlier inflow signals since 2005 and is up 12,404% since then. The blue bars below shows when STX was a top pick in the last year…Big Money boosts returns:
Source: www.moneyflows.com Tracking unusual volumes reveals the power of money flows.
This is a trait that most outlier stocks exhibit…the best of the best. Big Money demand drives stocks upward.
Seagate Price Prediction The STX action isn’t new at all. Big Money buying in the shares is signaling to take notice. Given the historical gains in share price and strong fundamentals, this stock could be worth a spot in a diversified portfolio.
Disclosure: The author holds no position in STX at the time of publication.
If you are a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) or are a serious investor, take your investing to the next level and follow our free weekly MoneyFlows insights.
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Arista Networks Sees AI Sales Doubling, Nears New HighMicron Technology (MU) Price Forecast: Earnings Surge Drives New HighsNASDAQ Index, SP500, Dow Jones Forecasts – NASDAQ Pulls Back As Apple Dives 5.5%About the Author
Lucas is a well-versed equity investor and educator. He currently is co-founder of research and analytics firm, MAPsignals.com, which focuses on finding outlier stocks by following the Big Money.
Key Takeaways MU expects fiscal Q3 2026 revenues of $33.5B and gross margin near 81%.Seagate posted fiscal Q3 2026 revenues of $3.11B, up 44% year over year. STX expects fiscal Q4 2026 revenues of about $3.45B and EPS near $5.00. For quite some time, Micron Technology (MU - Free Report) and Seagate Technology Holdings plc (STX - Free Report) have been benefiting from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, as rising data needs fuel demand for memory and storage solutions.
Both stocks have delivered exceptional returns of more than 600% over the past year. Let us thus see in detail why they still have further upside potential, and what makes them a compelling buy –
Micron Rides AI Wave With HBM Growth Micron is currently enjoying strong pricing power as its state-of-the-art high-bandwidth memory (“HBM”) chips are in high demand amid tight supply conditions. Demand for HBM chips has skyrocketed as hyperscalers continue to increase investments in AI infrastructure. These HBM chips can handle complex workloads efficiently while reducing power usage.
Micron now expects revenues to improve to $33.5 billion in the fiscal third quarter of 2026 from $23.86 billion in the fiscal second quarter of 2026 due to the high demand for HBM chips, according to investors.micron.com. The company’s expectations of a solid gross margin of about 81% for the fiscal third quarter of 2026 also reflect strong financial momentum and long-term growth outlook.
Supply constraints for Micron’s highly sought-after NAND flash chips are expected to continue through mid-next year, which could further strengthen margins. As a result, the company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 626.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate of $60.23 for MU’s earnings per share (EPS) is up 392.9% year over year (read more: Micron vs. NVIDIA: One AI Stock Is a Clear Buy Right Now).
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Seagate’s Nearline Business Fuels Growth Seagate reported revenues of $3.11 billion in the fiscal third quarter of 2026, up 44% year over year, according to investors.seagate.com. Such revenue growth is exceptional for a hardware company, indicating strong demand for Seagate’s high-capacity storage products. Seagate’s nearline storage business, known for providing high-capacity data center drives, is the company’s key growth engine.
But revenue growth is not a one-time event. It is expected to continue in the next quarter as well. For the fiscal fourth quarter of 2026, Seagate expects revenues of $3.45 billion, plus or minus $100 million. Similarly, the company expects non-GAAP diluted EPS of $5, plus or minus $0.2, in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2026, up from $4.1 in the fiscal third quarter of 2026. The company’s solid non-GAAP gross margin of 47% in the fiscal third quarter of 2026 indicates that profitability is improving, the company is operationally efficient, and has pricing power.
Seagate’s free cash flow of $953 million in the fiscal third quarter of 2026 also indicates that the company now has sufficient funds to support future investments. As a result, the company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 84.3%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate of $14.93 for STX’s EPS is up 51% year over year.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Both Micron and Seagate currently have a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Stanley Druckenmiller sold his entire Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG | GOOG Price Prediction) stake in the first quarter of 2026 and rotated the proceeds into SanDisk (NASDAQ:SNDK), Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX), Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU), Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO), and Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM). The billionaire who built Duquesne by reading macro tea leaves, and who famously sidestepped the dot-com unwind in 2000, dumped the highest-multiple AI software franchise on the board and bought the unglamorous hardware sitting underneath it.
Memory, spinning disks, custom AI silicon, and the CPU instruction set every phone and increasingly every data center licenses. Whichever foundation model wins the AI war, all five of these companies get paid roughly the same.
What the trade actually is Druckenmiller exited a megacap with a software-services moat and rebuilt his AI exposure one floor down. The price action explains the rotation. SanDisk is up 4,800% over twelve months and 736% since the start of January alone. Micron is sitting on an 875% twelve-month gain. Seagate is up 705% on the year and Arm has gained 254% year to date. Broadcom, the laggard of the group, is still up 58% in twelve months, which in any other year would be stellar.
The thesis under the trade Every token an LLM generates needs DRAM to train it and NAND to serve it. Micron put hard numbers on that abstraction in fiscal Q2. Revenue hit $23.86 billion, up 196.3% year over year, while gross margin expanded to 74.4% from 36.8% a year earlier. Management guided the current quarter to $33.5 billion at an 81% gross margin and raised the dividend 30%. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra called memory “a strategic asset” in the AI era. That is unusual language for a man who has spent thirty years running a famously cyclical commodity business.
Seagate is the same trade in spinning-disk form. March-quarter revenue grew 44.1% to $3.11 billion, non-GAAP gross margin expanded to 47.0%, and free cash flow reached $953 million. CEO Dave Mosley said Seagate is entering “a new era of structural growth as AI applications amplify data creation.” Its Mozaic HAMR drives are qualified at five of the world’s largest cloud customers, with nearline production largely spoken for through mid-2026. Broadcom and Arm round out the trade on the compute side, supplying custom accelerator silicon and the CPU IP that every hyperscaler now licenses.
Whether retail should follow Buying SanDisk after a rip is a different trade than the one Druckenmiller made earlier this year. The underlying thesis remains intact. Hyperscaler capex is committed, memory pricing is tight through 2027, and HAMR storage is effectively sold out. The entry price now does the work the thesis used to do.
Composite sentiment on SanDisk reads 74.55, bullish with medium confidence, while Micron’s composite has slipped to 62.33 after a sharp May rally. For a retirement-focused investor, the cleanest expression of the picks-and-shovels idea is the slower compounder of the group, Broadcom, which still pays a dividend and has only just begun to move. The penthouse-to-foundation rotation is the right idea. Paying retail prices for the foundation at the all-time high is the harder question, and one Druckenmiller did not have to answer.
At $1,031.34, Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX | STX Price Prediction) looks fully valued, with a more attractive risk/reward profile only emerging on a macro-driven pullback toward $850.
Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX | STX Price Prediction) has delivered one of the market’s most remarkable runs of 2026, with the stock up 297.98% year to date as AI-driven storage demand rewrites the narrative around legacy hard drive makers. After a parabolic move from $274.90 on December 31, 2025 to $1,094.04 on June 22, 2026, the question is how much higher this can go.
Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for Seagate is $1,010.11 over the next 12 months, implying roughly 7.7% downside from current levels. Our recommendation is hold, with a 90% confidence level, reflecting high conviction in the model output even as fundamentals remain intact.
Metric Value Current Price $1,094.04 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $1,010.11 Upside/Downside -7.7% Recommendation HOLD Confidence Level 90% Why We Could Be Wrong Our 24/7 Wall St. price target sits below where Seagate trades today. STX is one of the most dynamic AI infrastructure stories in the market, and real upside could come from accelerated Mozaic 4 ramp through calendar 2026 or from HDD pricing power lasting deeper into 2028 than the model assumes. The bull case below explains why Seagate could keep rallying past our number.
From $131 to $1,094 in 12 Months Seagate has gained 746% over the past year and 34.61% in the past month alone.
The catalyst was Q3 FY26 earnings on April 28, 2026, where Seagate posted adjusted EPS of $4.10 versus $3.50 expected on revenue of $3.11 billion, up 44.07% year over year. Non-GAAP gross margin expanded to 47.0% from 36.2%, and free cash flow reached $953 million. Management guided Q4 to $3.45 billion in revenue and $5.00 EPS, fueling the move.
The Case for $1,200+ Bulls have real ammunition. Morgan Stanley raised its target to $1,035 from $767 citing HDD shortages through at least 2028. Mizuho raised its target to $1,090 from $875, JPMorgan to $920, and Wells Fargo to $900.
CEO Dave Mosley said Seagate has “exabyte-scale supply agreements in place with nearly all major cloud and hyperscale customers, with nearline capacity almost fully allocated through calendar 2027”, and management raised its annual revenue growth target to a minimum of 20% over the next few years. Our bull case scenario points to $1,217.94, an 11.32% return.
What Could Go Wrong The risk centers on valuation. STX trades at a P/E of 102 and roughly 88x forward earnings, well above the $898.09 analyst consensus target.
Insiders, including CFO Gianluca Romano and CEO Dave Mosley, sold shares in mid-June at $880.19, though bulls note these were pre-planned 10b5-1 transactions and Mosley still holds over 327,000 shares. Other risks include tariff exposure, Middle East conflict, and dilution from Exchangeable Senior Notes due 2028. Our bear case lands at $742.76, a 32.11% drawdown.
Seagate Price Prediction 2026-2030 A pullback to the $850 to $900 range would look more attractive on a risk/reward basis if HAMR qualification with remaining hyperscalers closes on schedule. The setup looks less compelling if Q4 results show softening in pricing or if exabyte shipments miss the mid-20% growth bar.
My 24/7 Wall St. price target of $1,010.11 and hold rating reflect high confidence that the easy money has been made, even though the structural AI thesis remains intact.
Here is where our model projects Seagate could trade, assuming current growth trajectories and pricing discipline hold.
Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $1,010 2027 $1,045 2028 $1,080 2029 $1,055 2030 $1,044 These projections assume Seagate executes the Mozaic roadmap and captures share of AI storage spend. Significant upside or downside could result from HAMR adoption pace, hyperscaler capex cycles, or competitive pressure from NAND on the storage tier.
Stanley Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Family Office disclosed positions in three AI-infrastructure semiconductor names, Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO | AVGO Price Prediction), Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU), and Seagate Technology (NASDAQ: STX) in its 13F for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, filed May 15, 2026. Per the disclosure, Broadcom is the largest position of the three, Seagate is next, and Micron is the smallest. These are sized as thematic exposure rather than core, high-conviction positions.
The unifying thesis is straightforward: every layer of the AI build-out, custom silicon, memory, and high-capacity storage, has been compounding revenue and margins faster than the broader tech tape.
Broadcom: The Custom-Silicon Flywheel Broadcom posted Q2 FY2026 revenue of $22.19 billion, up 47.9% year over year, with AI semiconductor revenue of $10.80 billion, up 143%. CEO Hock Tan guided “semiconductor revenue from AI to grow over 200 percent year-over-year to $16.0 billion” in Q3.
Shares closed most recently at $380.15, against a Wall Street consensus target of $523.84. The bull case is based on hyperscaler ASIC wins plus the VMware annuity. For the bear case, a forward P/E of 36x already prices in the 200% AI growth figure, and the stock is down 8.2% over the past month.
Seagate: AI Storage With a Margin Story Seagate’s Q3 FY2026 revenue rose 44.1% to $3.11 billion, with non-GAAP EPS of $4.10 and gross margin expanding to 47.0% from 36.2%. CEO Dave Mosley framed it as “a new era of structural growth as AI applications amplify data creation,” with HAMR-based Mozaic drives now qualified at some of the world’s largest cloud customers.
The bull case here hinges on build-to-order visibility through mid-2026 and a nine-quarter margin streak. On the other hand, shares are up 277.1% year to date to $1,038.59, trading above the analyst target of $898.09, with a forward P/E of 44x.
Micron: The Data Point That Splits the Room Micron’s Q2 FY2026 revenue jumped 196.3% to $23.86 billion, with non-GAAP EPS of $12.20 and GAAP gross margin of 74.4%. Management guided Q3 revenue to $33.50 billion at roughly 81% gross margin and raised the dividend 30%.
The valuation debate is sharp here: shares closed at $1,051.77 after a 13.2% single-day decline, while the consensus target of $945.60 implies modest downside, though analyst ratings skew heavily positive. The forward P/E of 11 is the cheapest of the three, but memory remains cyclical.
The Verdict For a retirement-focused investor, the takeaway is that Druckenmiller’s filing validates the AI-infrastructure thesis at the thematic level, while entry price remains a separate question. Broadcom looks like the most defensible secular compounder, given the software annuity behind the silicon. Seagate offers the cleanest margin story but the thinnest valuation cushion after a 690% one-year run. Micron’s earnings power is enormous, yet the gap between fundamentals and analyst targets warrants patience.
Following smart money on the thesis is reasonable; entry price still requires its own discipline. Sizing these as thematic exposure, as Duquesne did, is the more faithful replication of the trade.
Key Takeaways Seagate is expanding Mozaic HAMR adoption as a core driver of structural growth and storage leadership.STX says second-generation Mozaic 4 delivers up to 44TB, over 30% more capacity than first-gen.Seagate targets Mozaic 5 at up to 50TB, with qualification shipments planned for late calendar 2027. Seagate Technology Holdings plc (STX - Free Report) is strengthening its competitive position through the rapid adoption of its Mozaic Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) platform, which is becoming a key pillar of its long-term growth strategy. On the last earnings call, management highlighted that the company is entering a new phase of structural growth supported by durable storage demand, increasing adoption of Mozaic-based products and disciplined execution focused on expanding margins, cash flow and shareholder value.
As AI-enhanced applications accelerate data creation, increase retention requirements and expand the use of historical datasets for advanced reasoning, demand for cost- and energy-efficient mass-capacity storage continues to rise. While SSDs serve high-speed workloads, high-capacity hard drives remain essential for modern data center architectures because of their superior economics for large-scale storage.
Seagate’s technology roadmap is centered on advancing areal density rather than increasing unit volumes, providing a capital- and manufacturing-efficient path to scale while improving cost and power efficiency per terabyte. This strategy supports its objective of delivering mid-20% exabyte growth. The second-generation Mozaic 4+ platform exemplifies this approach by offering up to 44TB per drive, more than 30% higher capacity than first-generation Mozaic products while using the same number of disks and heads with minimal changes to the bill of materials. The platform also integrates internally designed laser and photonic circuitry, enabling high-volume precision manufacturing and further enhancing cost efficiency. Revenue shipments began in late March, and management expects Mozaic 4 to account for the majority of HAMR exabyte shipments by the end of calendar 2026.
Looking ahead, Seagate’s roadmap remains robust, with Mozaic 5 targeting capacities of up to 50TB and qualification shipments planned for late calendar 2027. The company has already shipped millions of HAMR drives and continues to align its innovation with customer priorities, where higher capacity remains the primary requirement. As production scales beyond cloud and hyperscale customers into enterprise and edge markets, the unified Mozaic platform is expected to simplify the product portfolio, improve manufacturing efficiency and strengthen Seagate’s long-term competitive advantage while supporting sustained profitable growth.
Taking a Look at STX’s CompetitorsWestern Digital Corporation (WDC - Free Report) is gaining from the accelerating demand for AI- and cloud-driven mass storage, supported by its leadership in high-capacity HDD technology, rapid adoption of ePMR and UltraSMR drives, and a well-defined dual-path roadmap spanning ePMR and HAMR innovations. The company is strengthening its competitive position through higher areal density, scalable storage platforms, improved power efficiency and lower total cost of ownership, while expanding UltraSMR adoption across hyperscale and enterprise customers.
Backed by strong customer commitments through 2026 and multi-year agreements extending into 2028, Western Digital is also enhancing its technology portfolio with in-house HAMR laser capabilities and industry-first HDD performance innovations, positioning itself to deliver higher-capacity, energy-efficient and cost-effective storage solutions that meet the rapidly growing data requirements of AI workloads.
NetApp (NTAP - Free Report) continues to benefit from demand for modern all-flash arrays that support enterprise modernization and AI workloads. In fiscal 2026, all-flash revenue reached $4.2 billion, up 11% year over year. Management highlighted that AI deployments drove broad strength across high-performance flash, capacity flash and block-optimized storage, as customers look to keep expensive GPU environments fed with data.
The company’s all-flash platform also layers in cyber resilience features such as ransomware protection and recovery capabilities, which can be a differentiator in competitive replacements. NetApp has been refreshing its portfolio for AI workflows, including AFX and the AI Data Engine, which management said is seeing early customer and partner momentum. With fiscal 2027 revenue guided at $7.325-$7.575 billion, the company expects enterprise AI activity to increase year over year.
STX Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesIn the past three months, STX’s shares have surged 142.4% compared with the Zacks Computer Integrated Systems industry’s growth of 104.7%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
In terms of forward price/earnings, STX’s shares are trading at 39.86X, up from the industry’s 19.25X.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for STX’s earnings for fiscal 2026 has been revised up 15.5% to $14.93 over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Currently, Seagate sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Shares of Seagate Technology (STX +1.23%) have become one of the more surprising artificial intelligence (AI) winners in the market. Hard drives are not as glamorous as graphics processing units (GPUs) or cloud software. But data centers still need a place to store the flood of data created by AI applications, and investors have started treating Seagate as a front-line beneficiary of that build-out.
The move has been extraordinary. The storage stock is more than 700% over the past year as of this writing, and it jumped about 9% on Monday alone and is up sharply on Tuesday morning, too. Even after a run like that, could shares keep rising? If AI-driven demand keeps outstripping supply and Seagate continues to expand margins, the stock could still have room to run.
Here's a closer look at the business behind the move.
Image source: Getty Images.
AI is turning hard drives into a growth story Seagate's fiscal third quarter of 2026 (the period ended April 3, 2026) showed just how incredible the business's momentum is. Revenue rose 44% year over year to $3.11 billion, while non-GAAP (adjusted) gross margin expanded to 47% from 36.2% in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted earnings per share more than doubled to $4.10.
Additionally, Seagate's adjusted gross margin has climbed from 40.1% in fiscal Q1 to 42.2% in fiscal Q2. It reached 47% in fiscal Q3. And management guided for fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of about $3.45 billion at the midpoint, implying another sharp increase.
The driver is Seagate's nearline business, which supplies high-capacity drives used in data centers. They store enormous amounts of data at a low cost per terabyte.
"Today, AI sits at the center of nearly all customer demand conversations," said Seagate CEO Dave Mosley in the company's fiscal third-quarter earnings call.
Management said nearline products accounted for close to 90% of total exabyte shipments in the March quarter. Even more, Seagate said nearline capacity is almost fully allocated through calendar 2027, supported by supply agreements with nearly all major cloud and hyperscale customers.
That visibility is important -- and it's central to the bull case for the stock.
After all, storage has historically been cyclical and unpredictable, with supply and demand swinging sharply. But today's demand backdrop looks unusual, not just because of visibility, but also because Seagate has another main lever beyond unit growth: it is trying to push more capacity into each drive.
This is where heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) comes in. Seagate's Mozaic 4+ platform can deliver up to 44 terabytes per drive, more than 30% higher capacity than its first-generation Mozaic drives, while using the same number of disks and heads. Seagate also said it began revenue shipments of Mozaic 4 in late March and expects that platform to represent a majority of HAMR exabyte shipments exiting calendar 2026.
"We are going faster than what we were thinking on the transition to HAMR," said Seagate chief financial officer Gianluca Romano during the call.
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Can the stock keep rising? The bull case is fairly simple. Seagate has tight supply, strong demand, a higher-capacity roadmap, and pricing visibility that extends well beyond the next quarter. In addition, management said it now expects annual revenue growth of at least 20% over the next few years, up from its prior low-to-mid-teens target.
Additionally, the model is throwing off significant cash. Seagate generated $953 million of free cash flow in fiscal Q3 -- its highest level in more than a decade, and reduced gross debt by about $1.1 billion through the first nine months of fiscal 2026.
Still, investors should be careful.
The stock's market capitalization is more than $230 billion as of this writing, and the stock trades at nearly 100 times earnings. A valuation like this assumes the current boom lasts and that margins stay high as HAMR ramps.
And the company's own filings still point to the old risks. Seagate says nearline storage sales can vary because of the timing of cloud service provider spending, product qualification cycles, and customers' ability to source other parts needed to build data centers. In addition, if supply eventually catches demand, pricing power can fade quickly in hardware markets like Seagate's.
So, is Seagate stock a buy?
I think the stock could keep moving higher if AI storage demand remains stronger than supply through 2027. The business momentum is undeniable, and Seagate's HAMR roadmap gives it a tangible way to turn demand into higher capacity and better margins.
But just because there's a chance it could keep moving higher doesn't make the stock a buy.
After a more than 700% one-year move, I'd approach shares cautiously here. For investors who think we're still early in the AI boom, a small position may make sense. But at this valuation, the stock needs the boom to continue with very few interruptions. After all, this is still a cyclical hardware company -- even if the current cycle looks far stronger than usual.
Momentum investing is all about the idea of following a stock's recent trend, which can be in either direction. In the "long context," investors will essentially be "buying high, but hoping to sell even higher." And for investors following this methodology, taking advantage of trends in a stock's price is key; once a stock establishes a course, it is more than likely to continue moving in that direction. The goal is that once a stock heads down a fixed path, it will lead to timely and profitable trades.
While many investors like to look for momentum in stocks, this can be very tough to define. There is a lot of debate surrounding which metrics are the best to focus on and which are poor quality indicators of future performance. The Zacks Momentum Style Score, part of the Zacks Style Scores, helps address this issue for us.
Below, we take a look at Seagate (STX - Free Report) , a company that currently holds a Momentum Style Score of B. We also talk about price change and earnings estimate revisions, two of the main aspects of the Momentum Style Score.
It's also important to note that Style Scores work as a complement to the Zacks Rank, our stock rating system that has an impressive track record of outperformance. Seagate currently has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy). Our research shows that stocks rated Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and #2 (Buy) and Style Scores of "A or B" outperform the market over the following one-month period.
You can see the current list of Zacks #1 Rank Stocks here >>>
Set to Beat the Market?Let's discuss some of the components of the Momentum Style Score for STX that show why this electronic storage maker shows promise as a solid momentum pick.
Looking at a stock's short-term price activity is a great way to gauge if it has momentum, since this can reflect both the current interest in a stock and if buyers or sellers have the upper hand at the moment. It is also useful to compare a security to its industry, as this can help investors pinpoint the top companies in a particular area.
For STX, shares are up 9.86% over the past week while the Zacks Computer - Integrated Systems industry is flat over the same time period. Shares are looking quite well from a longer time frame too, as the monthly price change of 37.52% compares favorably with the industry's 20.63% performance as well.
Considering longer term price metrics, like performance over the last three months or year, can be advantageous as well. Over the past quarter, shares of Seagate have risen 152.17%, and are up 677.47% in the last year. In comparison, the S&P 500 has only moved 14.27% and 27.78%, respectively.
Investors should also pay attention to STX's average 20-day trading volume. Volume is a useful item in many ways, and the 20-day average establishes a good price-to-volume baseline; a rising stock with above average volume is generally a bullish sign, whereas a declining stock on above average volume is typically bearish. STX is currently averaging 3,122,597 shares for the last 20 days.
Earnings OutlookThe Zacks Momentum Style Score also takes into account trends in estimate revisions, in addition to price changes. Please note that estimate revision trends remain at the core of Zacks Rank as well. A nice path here can help show promise, and we have recently been seeing that with STX.
Over the past two months, 7 earnings estimates moved higher compared to none lower for the full year. These revisions helped boost STX's consensus estimate, increasing from $12.93 to $14.93 in the past 60 days. Looking at the next fiscal year, 7 estimates have moved upwards while there have been no downward revisions in the same time period.
Bottom LineGiven these factors, it shouldn't be surprising that STX is a #1 (Strong Buy) stock and boasts a Momentum Score of B. If you're looking for a fresh pick that's set to soar in the near-term, make sure to keep Seagate on your short list.
Growth stocks are attractive to many investors, as above-average financial growth helps these stocks easily grab the market's attention and produce exceptional returns. But finding a growth stock that can live up to its true potential can be a tough task.
That's because, these stocks usually carry above-average risk and volatility. In fact, betting on a stock for which the growth story is actually over or nearing its end could lead to significant loss.
However, the Zacks Growth Style Score (part of the Zacks Style Scores system), which looks beyond the traditional growth attributes to analyze a company's real growth prospects, makes it pretty easy to find cutting-edge growth stocks.
Seagate (STX - Free Report) is on the list of such stocks currently recommended by our proprietary system. In addition to a favorable Growth Score, it carries a top Zacks Rank.
Studies have shown that stocks with the best growth features consistently outperform the market. And for stocks that have a combination of a Growth Score of A or B and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy), returns are even better.
While there are numerous reasons why the stock of this electronic storage maker is a great growth pick right now, we have highlighted three of the most important factors below:
Earnings GrowthEarnings growth is arguably the most important factor, as stocks exhibiting exceptionally surging profit levels tend to attract the attention of most investors. And for growth investors, double-digit earnings growth is definitely preferable, and often an indication of strong prospects (and stock price gains) for the company under consideration.
While the historical EPS growth rate for Seagate is 2.6%, investors should actually focus on the projected growth. The company's EPS is expected to grow 84.3% this year, crushing the industry average, which calls for EPS growth of 73%.
Impressive Asset Utilization RatioGrowth investors often overlook asset utilization ratio, also known as sales-to-total-assets (S/TA) ratio, but it is an important feature of a real growth stock. This metric exhibits how efficiently a firm is utilizing its assets to generate sales.
Right now, Seagate has an S/TA ratio of 1.29, which means that the company gets $1.29 in sales for each dollar in assets. Comparing this to the industry average of 0.68, it can be said that the company is more efficient.
In addition to efficiency in generating sales, sales growth plays an important role. And Seagate is well positioned from a sales growth perspective too. The company's sales are expected to grow 32.5% this year versus the industry average of 22.3%.
Promising Earnings Estimate RevisionsSuperiority of a stock in terms of the metrics outlined above can be further validated by looking at the trend in earnings estimate revisions. A positive trend is of course favorable here. Empirical research shows that there is a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.
There have been upward revisions in current-year earnings estimates for Seagate. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has surged 0.3% over the past month.
Bottom LineSeagate has not only earned a Growth Score of A based on a number of factors, including the ones discussed above, but it also carries a Zacks Rank #1 because of the positive earnings estimate revisions.
You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
This combination indicates that Seagate is a potential outperformer and a solid choice for growth investors.
Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX | STX Price Prediction) has transformed from a forgotten hard drive maker into one of the most aggressive AI infrastructure plays on the market. Shares are up 238.69% year to date and 647.88% over the past year.
CEO Dave Mosley told investors “Seagate is entering a new era of structural growth as AI applications amplify data creation and support sustained storage demand.” At $931.04, the round-number question is clear: can STX reach $1,000, and when?
What’s Holding Seagate Back The pause reflects altitude. Shares are consolidating after a steep climb. Shares sit 9% below the 52-week high of $966.80, after a 9.86% one-week pop and a 13.91% one-month gain. The risk is the move itself.
A beta of 2.083 means STX moves twice as hard as the market in either direction, and a stock that has roughly 6x’d in a year invites profit-taking on any hyperscaler capex pause. Insider behavior also flashes caution: 177 recent insider transactions have skewed toward selling. That is the wall between today’s quote and $1,000.
Wall Street Sees Downside. Our Model Says the Bull Case Hits $1,000 First Wall Street consensus lags. The analyst target sits at $877.68, below today’s price. Coverage breaks down to 4 Strong Buy, 16 Buy, 3 Hold, 0 Sell, and 1 Strong Sell, with 83% bullish sentiment.
Our base case lands at $922.21 (fair value) with a 90% confidence read. The bull case: $1,039.94 over the next year, with the first $1,000 cross modeled for October 13, 2026. Analysts are anchored to old earnings. The numbers have moved.
The Path to $1,000 Per Share Reaching $1,000 from today’s price of $931.04 requires a gain of 7.4%. With forward EPS of $18.62, a $1,000 price implies a forward P/E of 54x. Our base case of $922.21 already implies roughly 50x at that same EPS, meaning the target asks for only about 4x of additional multiple expansion.
That is manageable given Q3 FY26 results: EPS of $4.10 versus $3.50 expected, revenue of $3.11 billion (up 44.1% year over year), and free cash flow of $953 million. Gross margin jumped to 47% from 36.2%. Q4 FY26 guidance calls for $5 EPS and $3.45 billion in revenue.
Mosley’s framing matters: HAMR-based Mozaic is qualified with five of the world’s largest cloud customers, and data center capacity is expected to more than double by 2029. The primary risk is a hyperscaler digestion pause that resets the multiple.
The Valuation Case At $931.04 and forward EPS of $18.62, STX trades at roughly 50x forward earnings. Rich on the surface, but EPS has scaled from $2.59 in Q4 FY25 to $4.10 in Q3 FY26, with guidance pointing to $5 next quarter. Shares sit between the 52-week low of $125.99 and high of $966.80, with a 10-year return of 6,092.11%. The forward P/E will compress if Q4 lands as guided.
Can Seagate Really Hit $1,000? A 7.4% gain from $931.04 with a beta over 2 is one good earnings reaction away.
Three things need to go right: Q4 FY26 must land at or above $5 EPS, HAMR qualifications must convert to volume orders in the back half of 2026, and hyperscaler capex commentary must stay constructive. A sharp pullback in AI capex spending derails it. We’ve outlined the blueprint for how Seagate Technology could reach $1,000 in 2026.
This article was written and reviewed by Doug Nathman and his team at Trefis. For questions, email [email protected].
The company is narrating a tale of explosive growth driven by AI, yet it is their approach to achieving it that has truly captivated Wall Street.
When a corporation informs you that next quarter's earnings are expected to surge by 47% sequentially, you take note. When they assert that revenue will rise by 19% in that same timeframe, you pay heed. And when Seagate (STX)’s executives made such claims on April 28, 2026, the market didn’t just listen; it propelled the stock upward by +46.1% since then.
Sign with logo on facade of headquarters of hard drive and computer hardware maker Seagate in the Silicon Valley, Fremont, California, July 28, 2018. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
Getty Images
At first glance, this seems like a straightforward narrative of an AI-fueled data boom. However, a closer examination reveals a more intricate picture. The essential question isn’t whether Seagate is expanding, but how it plans to do so. The company is surfing one of the most intense demand waves in the technology sector, but their primary approach is to enhance the density of their hard drives rather than increasing their production quantity. Is this a brilliant strategy for profit maximization or a risky limitation on growth?
A New Era Of ExpansionFirstly, let’s clarify the magnitude of the narrative being presented by management. They are asserting that Seagate is now “entering a phase of structural growth.” Is this mere rhetoric? They have substantiated this by increasing their annual revenue growth forecast from the mid-teens to “at least 20% over the coming years.” This confident, forward-looking indication is precisely what prompts investors to reassess the company’s valuation. The narrative suggests that the unquenchable data hunger of AI isn’t just a fleeting spike; it represents a new standard.
Increasing Data, Not More DrivesThis is where it becomes particularly intriguing. In the midst of a gold rush, one typically expects miners to purchase additional shovels. Yet, Seagate intends to create a superior shovel. Management has been unambiguous: “The total number of units is not really increasing.” Rather than amplifying unit production, the entire emphasis is on areal density, packing more and more terabytes onto each disk. This methodology has substantial repercussions on the financials. By providing additional capacity without a corresponding rise in materials or manufacturing output, margins have skyrocketed. The company’s operating margin currently stands at 29.5%, a stark contrast to its 12.2% three-year average.
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Nevertheless, limiting unit quantities to concentrate entirely on density optimization introduces execution risks if infrastructure pipelines face disruptions. This tension isn’t unique to Seagate; it mirrors broader structural obstacles affecting the high-performance hardware landscape. A notable illustration of this situation is examined in our post “The Warning Sign Within Arista Networks Stock’s Positive News,” where remarkable AI-driven demand has outpaced supply-chain capability, raising market concerns regarding margin pressures and component shortages.
The Tape Agrees, LoudlyCurrently, Wall Street is fully invested in this high-density wager. To claim that the stock has outperformed the market would be an understatement; it has vastly outperformed it, achieving an incredible +574.9% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 garnered +24.4%. The price resides significantly above its 50- and 200-day moving averages, a classic hallmark of a robust uptrend. Even the options market is preparing for remarkable activity, with implied volatility in the 98th percentile of its one-year range, indicating expectations of exceptionally large price fluctuations ahead.
The market has absorbed the narrative of disciplined growth and witnessed the ensuing profit surge, and it has come to the conclusion that less (units) actually translates to more (profits). With management asserting that its high-capacity “nearline capacity is nearly completely allocated through calendar 2027,” the gamble has been made. But can Seagate’s technological development maintain sufficient density to meet an AI boom that demands everything simultaneously?
SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ: STX) (“Seagate” or “Company”) and Seagate HDD Cayman, a subsidiary of Seagate (“Seagate HDD”), today announced that Seagate HDD has issued a notice to holders of Seagate HDD’s 3.50% Exchangeable Senior Notes due 2028 (the “notes”) calling for redemption (the “redemption”) of all outstanding notes.
On September 8, 2026 (the “redemption date”), all then-outstanding notes that are called for redemption and have not been submitted for exchange will be redeemed for cash at a price (the “redemption price”) equal to the principal amount of such notes plus accrued and unpaid interest on such notes to, but excluding, the redemption date. On the redemption date, the redemption price will become due and payable upon each note to be redeemed and interest thereon will cease to accrue on and after the redemption date (unless Seagate HDD fails to pay the redemption price due on the redemption date in full, in which case interest thereon will continue to accrue until such time as Seagate HDD pays such redemption price in full).
The notes may be exchanged by holders at any time before 5:00 p.m. (New York City time) on September 3, 2026 (the “exchange deadline”) (or, if Seagate HDD fails to pay the redemption price due on the redemption date in full, at any time until such time as Seagate HDD pays such redemption price in full). The exchange rate for notes exchanged after today and through the exchange deadline is currently equal to 12.1363 ordinary shares of Seagate, par value $0.00001 per share (the “ordinary shares”), per $1,000 principal amount of the notes, and will be adjusted on June 25, 2026 as a result of the Company’s previously announced dividend of $0.74 per ordinary share pursuant to Section 7.05(d) of the indenture governing the notes, dated as of September 13, 2023 among Seagate HDD, the Company, Seagate Technology Unlimited Company and Computershare Trust Company, National Association, as trustee. The principal amount of any notes submitted for exchange shall be paid in cash, and Seagate HDD has elected to settle the remainder of its exchange obligations in excess of the principal amount for notes exchanged after today and through the exchange deadline by delivering ordinary shares, together with cash, if applicable, in lieu of delivering any fractional ordinary shares.
The notes called for redemption must be delivered to the paying agent (in the case of physical notes) or in compliance with the rules and procedures of DTC (in the case of global notes) to receive the redemption price. The name and address of the paying agent and the exchange agent to surrender the Notes (CUSIP: 81180WBL4) is:
Holders who have questions or who wish to discuss the redemption may contact Computershare Trust Company, N.A. by telephone at 1-800-344-5128 or by email at [email protected]. Please refer to the CUSIP number (CUSIP: 81180WBL4) when making inquiries to the paying agent and the exchange agent.
Seagate HDD expects to eliminate approximately $150.7 million of debt, which represents all currently outstanding notes that have not been submitted for exchange, through a combination of voluntary exchanges by noteholders and Seagate HDD’s redemption of any notes that have not been exchanged through the redemption date.
About Seagate
Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) is a pioneer in mass-capacity data storage, accelerating ability to harness the full value of data. Our portfolio of advanced storage solutions helps hyperscale cloud providers, enterprises, and consumers protect, create and manage the data that powers their transformation and growth. For more than 45 years, Seagate has driven breakthrough innovations that bring sustainable, high-performance storage to the world at-scale.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical fact. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements about the planned redemption of the notes. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by words such as “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “projects,” “should,” “may,” “will,” “will continue,” “can,” “could,” or the negative of these words, variations of these words and comparable terminology, in each case, intended to refer to future events or circumstances. However, the absence of these words or similar expressions does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are based on information available to the Company as of the date of this press release and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause the Company’s actual results, performance or events to differ materially from historical experience and the Company’s present expectations or projections. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those described under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in the Company’s latest periodic report on Form 10-Q or Form 10-K filed with the SEC. Undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements in this press release, which are based on information available to us on, and which speak only as of, the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, unless required by applicable law.
Seagate (STX) has rallied strongly with other AI memory chip stocks like Micron (MU) and SanDisk (SNDK), though shares face strong resistance despite getting bullish momentum from analysts. @CharlesSchwab's Rachel Dashiell highlights key levels investors should watch in the stock.
Key Takeaways STX generated $953M in Q3 free cash flow, up 57% sequentially with a 31% margin.Seagate's data center revenues surged 55%, driving 44% overall revenue growth.STX is reducing debt and returning capital while maintaining disciplined capex levels. Seagate Technology Holdings plc (STX - Free Report) is witnessing strengthening cash flows, with free cash flow (“FCF”) reaching $953 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2026, up 57% sequentially and the highest level in a decade, as highlighted by the management. This translated to a robust 31% FCF margin. Year to date, FCF stands at $1.987 billion.
Seagate is witnessing explosive demand for its storage solutions amid the proliferation of AI. This has resulted in strong revenue growth and improved profitability numbers. Quarterly non-GAAP revenues of $3.11 billion exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.7% and rose 44% year over year. The shift toward inference-driven workloads, agentic AI and multimodal applications is leading to exponential growth in data creation and storage needs, added Seagate.
The data center segment accounted for 80% of total revenues, at $2.5 billion, representing a 55% year-over-year growth. Seagate shipped 199 exabytes of HDD storage, up 39% year over year and 5% sequentially.
Non-GAAP income from operations of $1.167 billion rose $507 million from a year ago. Non-GAAP operating margin increased to 37.5% from 23.5% year over year. Non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA of $1.2 billion more than doubled from the prior-year quarter.
Moreover, capital discipline remains intact. Capital expenditures were $151 million, or nearly 4% of revenues, aligning with the company’s targeted range. This disciplined investment approach, alongside operational efficiencies, is allowing more earnings to translate into free cash flow.
Seagate expects FCF generation to improve through the remaining quarter in calendar 2026, buoyed by robust demand, operational efficiencies and capital discipline. The company is using this cash to fortify its balance sheet, having reduced gross debt by $1.1 billion year to date, while also returning capital ($191 million to its shareholders via dividends in the fiscal third quarter) to shareholders.
The company will maintain capital discipline while continuing the transition and ramp-up of HAMR technology, with fiscal 2026 capital spending expected to remain within its target range of 4-6% of revenues. STX is also focused on reducing its leverage.
FCF Numbers for CompetitorsWestern Digital Corporation (WDC - Free Report) is one of Seagate’s closest competitors and one of the beneficiaries of the AI cycle. It generated $1.1 billion in cash from operations compared with $508 million in the prior-year quarter in the fiscal third quarter. Western Digital’s disciplined capex of $145 million helped drive a strong free cash flow of $978 million, up 124% year over year.
The company repurchased shares worth $752 million and paid $43 million in dividends. Western Digital has returned a total of $2.2 billion to its shareholders through buybacks and dividends since launching the capital return program in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025.
NetApp (NTAP - Free Report) continues to benefit from demand for modern all-flash arrays that support enterprise modernization and AI workloads. For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, net cash from operations came in at $950 million compared with $675 million in the previous-year quarter. Free cash flow was $900 million (free cash flow margin of 46.2%) compared with $640 million in the prior-year quarter (37%).
NetApp returned $303 million to its shareholders during the quarter through $200 million in share repurchases and $103 million in dividends. NetApp returned $1.36 billion to its shareholders through dividends and buybacks for fiscal 2026.
STX Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesIn the past month, STX’s shares are up 6.2% compared with Zacks Computer Integrated Systems industry’s growth of 17.9%.
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In terms of forward price/earnings, STX’s shares are trading at 33.68X, up from the industry’s 17.67X.
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The Zacks Consensus Estimate for STX’s earnings for fiscal 2026 has been revised up 15.3% to $14.89 over the past 60 days.
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Currently, Seagate sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Seagate Technology Holdings STX shares climbed sharply on Friday as investors responded positively to the company's efforts to strengthen its balance sheet and capitalize on growing demand for data storage driven by artificial intelligence.
The data storage manufacturer saw its stock rise 8.3% in trading after announcing plans to redeem all outstanding 3.50% Exchangeable Senior Notes due 2028.
The move is expected to eliminate approximately $150.7 million in debt, improving Seagate's capital structure and enhancing its financial flexibility.
The debt reduction announcement comes amid a period of strong operational performance for the company, which has benefited from accelerating demand for storage infrastructure as AI adoption expands across industries.
Seagate has emerged as one of the beneficiaries of the rapid growth in artificial intelligence workloads, which require vast amounts of data storage and management capacity.
The company recently raised its annual revenue growth forecast to at least 20%, citing robust demand from AI-related applications.
Management also disclosed that its nearline storage capacity is almost fully allocated through calendar year 2027, providing significant visibility into future revenue streams.
The company reported non-GAAP revenue of $3.11 billion in the third quarter of fiscal 2026, increasing 44% from a year earlier.
According to management, the growing shift toward inference-driven workloads, agentic AI, and multimodal applications is contributing to a sharp increase in data creation and storage requirements.
The data center business remained Seagate's primary growth engine during the quarter.
Revenue from the segment reached $2.5 billion, accounting for approximately 80% of total company revenue and representing year-over-year growth of 55%.
Seagate also shipped 199 exabytes of hard disk drive storage during the quarter, up 39% from the prior year and 5% sequentially.
Strong operating performance translated into significant cash generation for the company.
Seagate reported free cash flow of $953 million during the third quarter of fiscal 2026, an increase of 57% sequentially and the highest quarterly level in a decade.
Management highlighted that the figure represented a free cash flow margin of 31%.
Year-to-date free cash flow reached $1.987 billion, underscoring the company's ability to convert revenue growth into cash generation.
The company's profitability metrics also remained strong.
Seagate reported a gross margin of 46.5%, reflecting effective cost management and profitability levels that exceed many industry peers.
Revenue growth of 44.07% over the most recent three-month period also outpaced the average growth rate among peers in the information technology sector.
While investors welcomed Seagate's operational momentum, a recent insider transaction also attracted market attention.
According to a Form 4 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer John C. Morris sold 573 shares of Seagate stock on June 11.
The transaction was valued at approximately $471,426.
Despite the insider sale, Seagate shares continued to advance as investors focused on the company's growth outlook and AI-driven demand trends.
Seagate remains one of the leading suppliers of hard disk drives globally, operating in what is effectively a duopoly alongside Western Digital.
However, the company continues to face some financial challenges.
Its debt-to-equity ratio stands at 3.82, higher than the industry average, indicating elevated financial leverage despite the recent debt reduction initiative.
Investors seek growth stocks to capitalize on above-average growth in financials that help these securities grab the market's attention and produce exceptional returns. But finding a great growth stock is not easy at all.
In addition to volatility, these stocks carry above-average risk by their very nature. Also, one could end up losing from a stock whose growth story is actually over or nearing its end.
However, it's pretty easy to find cutting-edge growth stocks with the help of the Zacks Growth Style Score (part of the Zacks Style Scores system), which looks beyond the traditional growth attributes to analyze a company's real growth prospects.
Seagate (STX - Free Report) is one such stock that our proprietary system currently recommends. The company not only has a favorable Growth Score, but also carries a top Zacks Rank.
Research shows that stocks carrying the best growth features consistently beat the market. And for stocks that have a combination of a Growth Score of A or B and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy), returns are even better.
While there are numerous reasons why the stock of this electronic storage maker is a great growth pick right now, we have highlighted three of the most important factors below:
Earnings GrowthArguably nothing is more important than earnings growth, as surging profit levels is what most investors are after. For growth investors, double-digit earnings growth is highly preferable, as it is often perceived as an indication of strong prospects (and stock price gains) for the company under consideration.
While the historical EPS growth rate for Seagate is 2.6%, investors should actually focus on the projected growth. The company's EPS is expected to grow 83.9% this year, crushing the industry average, which calls for EPS growth of 44.2%.
Impressive Asset Utilization RatioAsset utilization ratio -- also known as sales-to-total-assets (S/TA) ratio -- is often overlooked by investors, but it is an important indicator in growth investing. This metric shows how efficiently a firm is utilizing its assets to generate sales.
Right now, Seagate has an S/TA ratio of 1.29, which means that the company gets $1.29 in sales for each dollar in assets. Comparing this to the industry average of 0.68, it can be said that the company is more efficient.
In addition to efficiency in generating sales, sales growth plays an important role. And Seagate is well positioned from a sales growth perspective too. The company's sales are expected to grow 32.5% this year versus the industry average of 16.4%.
Promising Earnings Estimate RevisionsSuperiority of a stock in terms of the metrics outlined above can be further validated by looking at the trend in earnings estimate revisions. A positive trend is of course favorable here. Empirical research shows that there is a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.
The current-year earnings estimates for Seagate have been revising upward. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has surged 16.2% over the past month.
Bottom LineWhile the overall earnings estimate revisions have made Seagate a Zacks Rank #1 stock, it has earned itself a Growth Score of A based on a number of factors, including the ones discussed above.
You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
This combination indicates that Seagate is a potential outperformer and a solid choice for growth investors.
SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ: STX) (“Seagate” or “us”) and Seagate HDD Cayman, a subsidiary of Seagate (“Seagate HDD”) today announced that on May 20, 2026, they entered into separate, privately negotiated exchange agreements with a limited number of holders of Seagate HDD's 3.50% Exchangeable Senior Notes due 2028 (the “notes”) to exchange (collectively, the “exchanges”) $185.908 million principal amount of notes for consideration consisting of an aggrega.
Key Takeaways Seagate logged a record 47% non-GAAP gross margin in Q3 2026, up 480 bps sequentially.STX says Mozaic 4 HAMR can reach 44TB drives with minimal BOM changes, boosting mix-led costs.Seagate locked FY27 build-to-order deals; nearline capacity largely allocated through 2027 amid tight supply. Seagate Technology Holdings plc (STX - Free Report) has been sustaining strong gross margin expansion through a combination of disciplined pricing, improving product mix and the rapid adoption of its HAMR-based Mozaic platform. In the third quarter of fiscal 2026, Seagate reported a record non-GAAP gross margin of 47%, up 480 basis points (bps) sequentially and roughly 1,080 bps year over year. Revenues climbed 44% year over year to $3.1 billion. The company also generated nearly $1 billion in free cash flow, reflecting strong operational leverage and sustained demand from cloud and enterprise customers.
A major contributor to margin expansion has been Seagate’s transition toward higher-capacity HAMR drives. The company highlighted that Mozaic 4+, its second-generation HAMR platform, can deliver up to 44 terabytes per drive with minimal changes to bill of materials, allowing Seagate to increase storage density without significantly increasing manufacturing costs. Management emphasized that cost reductions are increasingly being driven by higher-capacity drive mix and technology efficiencies rather than factory utilization gains alone.
Seagate’s pricing strategy is also supporting profitability momentum. The company has finalized build-to-order agreements for fiscal 2027, locking in pricing, mix and volumes for a large portion of nearline capacity. Management noted that strong cloud demand, combined with tight supply conditions, continues to support favorable pricing trends. Executives added that profitability improvements are being driven by both pricing gains and the continued ramp of 40-terabyte HAMR drives.
Seagate expects the momentum to continue into fiscal 2027. The company guided for further sequential revenue and margin expansion, supported by rising AI-driven storage demand, increasing HAMR adoption and disciplined operational execution. With nearline capacity largely allocated through calendar 2027 and strong visibility into customer demand, Seagate appears well-positioned to sustain its gross margin expansion trajectory over the coming quarters.
For the fiscal fourth quarter, it expects revenues of $3.45 billion (+/- $100 million). At the midpoint, this indicates a 41% year-over-year improvement. At the midpoint of revenue guidance, non-GAAP operating margin is projected to increase in the low 40% range.
Taking a Look at STX’s Competitors’ Margin GrowthWestern Digital Corporation (WDC - Free Report) reported a non-GAAP gross margin of 50.5% for third-quarter fiscal 2026, up 1,040 bps year over year and 440 bps sequentially, above its guidance (47-48%). Strong gross margins were driven by a richer mix of higher-capacity drives, disciplined pricing and tight cost management. With strong demand, pricing and improved visibility across cloud, consumer and client segments, it expects revenues of $3.65 billion (+/- $100 million) in fourth-quarter fiscal 2026, implying about 40% year-over-year growth at the midpoint. The company expects non-GAAP gross margin in the range of 51-52%.
Micron Technology (MU - Free Report) posted a non-GAAP gross profit of $7.75 billion for the fiscal second quarter, up 486% year over year and 131% sequentially. The fiscal second-quarter non-GAAP gross margin of 74.9% improved from the year-ago quarter’s 37.9% and the previous quarter’s 56.8%. The non-GAAP operating margin came in at 69%. Micron Technology posted a non-GAAP operating margin of 47% for the previous quarter, and it had a non-GAAP operating margin of 24.9% in the year-ago quarter. For the third quarter of fiscal 2026. The company anticipates revenues of $35.5 billion (+/-$750 million). For the quarter, Micron Technology projects a non-GAAP gross margin of approximately 81%.
STX’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesIn the past year, STX shares have skyrocketed 628%, outperforming the Computer Integrated Systems industry’s growth of 220.7%.
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In terms of forward price/earnings, STX’s shares are trading at 33.36X, higher than the industry’s 16.04X.
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STX is currently witnessing an uptrend in estimate revisions. Earnings estimates for fiscal 2026 have increased 15.6% to $14.89 over the past 60 days, while the same for fiscal 2027 has gone up 34.9% to $26.34.
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STX currently boasts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.